What is Tocqueville known for?

What is Tocqueville known for?

Alexis de Tocqueville is best known for Democracy in America, which he wrote after spending 10 months of 1831 and 1832 in the United States on a mission from France to study American prisons (then considered progressive).

How does Tocqueville define individualism?

The French aristocratic political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) described individualism in terms of a kind of moderate selfishness that disposed humans to be concerned only with their own small circle of family and friends.

What was Tocqueville’s concern with?

He blamed the French Revolution on corruption among the nobility and on the political disillusionment of the French population. Tocqueville’s plans for later volumes were cut short by his death from tuberculosis in 1859.

How did Tocqueville define freedom?

According to Tocqueville, American religion teaches, as the Puritan founder John Winthrop put it, that “freedom” means the freedom to do only what is just. This serves as a vital check on the individualistic impulse of the democratic man and offers a fixed moral orientation.

How does de Tocqueville define democracy?

Tocqueville sees democracy or equality of conditions as having an “immense influence on the whole course of society.” (p. 9) More generally, he argues that the “social state” is “the prime cause of most of the laws, customs, and ideas” in a society.

What does Tocqueville stand for?

Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (French: ; 29 July 1805 – 16 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (/ ˈtɒkvɪl, ˈtoʊk -/), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian.

Is de Tocqueville right about land?

In America,” de Tocqueville noted, “land costs little, and anyone can become a landowner. And you quote de Tocqueville at the front of your book, “Every American is eaten up with a longing to rise.” And if Tocqueville is right, then Piketty is mistaken, despite the impressive scope and sophistication of his work.

Was Tocqueville a Liberal?

^ a b Jaume, Lucien (2013). Tocqueville: The Aristocratic Sources of Liberty. Princeton University Press. p. 6. The “liberal” label is not misplaced, because Tocqueville described himself as a liberal.

What did Tocqueville die of?

A longtime sufferer from bouts of tuberculosis, Tocqueville would eventually succumb to the disease on 16 April 1859 and was buried in the Tocqueville cemetery in Normandy.