Democracy in America
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Democracy in America is a seminal work by French political scientist and historian Alexis de Tocqueville. Published in two parts (1835 and 1840), it offers a profound analysis of the social and political landscape of the United States in the early 19th century. Tocqueville's primary concern was understanding how to preserve liberty within a society characterized by rapidly increasing equality of conditions.12
He observed American representative institutions, the power of the press, and the potential for both the strengths and weaknesses of democracy. Tocqueville feared the potential for centralized government power and advocated for educating democracy to ensure it led to knowledge and prosperity rather than servitude or barbarism. The work is considered a classic examination of American civilization and its democratic experiment.12
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democracyDemocracy or republic?…through his monumental four-volume study Democracy in America (1835–40).
Read More…through his monumental four-volume study Democracy in America (1835–40).
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political philosophyTocqueville…la démocratie en Amérique (Democracy in America) appeared in 1835–40, was a French civil servant who was concerned with maintaining the standards and creativeness of civilization in the face of mass democracy. Since the United States was then the only existing large-scale democracy, Tocqueville decided to study it firsthand,…
Read More…la démocratie en Amérique (Democracy in America) appeared in 1835–40, was a French civil servant who was concerned with maintaining the standards and creativeness of civilization in the face of mass democracy. Since the United States was then the only existing large-scale democracy, Tocqueville decided to study it firsthand,…
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social scienceMajor themes resulting from democratic and industrial change…most luminously perhaps in Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1835–40), a classic work that took not merely America but democracy everywhere as its subject. Tocqueville saw the rise of the political masses, more especially the immense power that could be wielded by the masses, as the single greatest threat to individual…
Read More…most luminously perhaps in Tocqueville’s Democracy in America (1835–40), a classic work that took not merely America but democracy everywhere as its subject. Tocqueville saw the rise of the political masses, more especially the immense power that could be wielded by the masses, as the single greatest threat to individual…
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