4.3 On Democratisation

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Classical Sociological Theory

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University of Amsterdam

Classical Sociological Theory

1020 ratings

This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) will offer the participants an introduction into the most important classical sociological readings between the 18th and 20th century. Highly influential social science scholars, such as Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, will be discussed during 8 sessions. Combined with small tests, based on the video’s and recommended readings, the participants will be encouraged to dive deeply into the complex texts and get familiar with classical sociological concepts that are still very relevant today.

From the lesson

Session 4: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

Tocqueville’s works shaped 19th-century discussions of liberalism and equality, and were rediscovered in the 20th century as sociologists debated the causes and cures of tyranny and revolutions. His famous work “Democracy in America” remains widely read and even more widely quoted. This session will cover Tocqueville’s most important ideas.

4.1 Tocqueville as a Precursor of Modern Sociology5:31

4.2 An Aristocratic Perspective6:23

4.3 On Democratisation6:11

4.4 The Dominance of the Middle-Class5:32

4.5 The Dangers of Centralisation5:36

4.6 Grassroots Politics as the Heart of Democracy6:57

4.7 ‘Revolutions Will Become Rare’5:59

4.8 Tocqueville’s Predictions5:35

Meet the Instructors

Bart van Heerikhuizen
Dr.
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

It is tempting to tell you all kinds of interesting things about

the life of this rather adventurous man, but

here I must restrict myself to just those few biographical facts that

you need to know in order to situate the book that we will discuss here.

On Democracy in America, de la democratie en Amerique.

After the Revolutions of 1830, Tocqueville,

who had finished his law study, decided to work in the service of a government that

was controlled by the progressives, backed by the new rising industrial middle class.

In a way this was a choice against his own family.

Later he said this was a black day, but

he believed that the fundamental changes in French society are inevitable and

that people from the old aristocratic classes,

like himself, should offer their services in developing a new democratic

France that retains some of the best elements from its feudal past.

And then this young ambitious lawyer was given a very interesting assignment.

He was invited to study the penitentiary system in the United States and

find out if there are aspects in the treatment of criminals over there

that might be adopted in France.

So from May 1831 until February 1832,

the 26 year old Tocqueville and his friend Gustave de Beaumont

traveled through the United States, visited prisons,

talked to judges and lawyers and prepared their official government report.

Back in France, they published the outcomes of their research in a book

on the penal system in the United States and its applicability in France, and

I can testify here that the copy of the first edition of that study is still

in the drawer of his desk at the consul.

But during that trip, Tocqueville had noticed and studied so

much more than just courtrooms and prisons, and

in 1835, he published the first volume of his two volume masterpiece,

On Democracy in America.

That book was an instant success, and from that moment on Tocqueville

was a name to reckon with in Paris intellectual circles.

The second volume of the book appeared in 1840.

One year before Tocqueville had become a member of Parliament, representative

of the District of Valognes, where the village of Tocqueville can be found.

So his book is about democracy, or

maybe it's better to say it's about a process of democratization.

A development that unfolded in the United States so much quicker than in France

that Tocqueville sometimes seems to think that a French visitor

can see in the United States what the future has in store for France.

It's a kind of futuristic ambition.

Let us study the American democratic system, its assets,

also its darker aspects in order to better understand

what lies ahead for us here in Europe and profit from that information.

So, democratization does not only refer to political processes.

The change in politics is part of a more general movement into the direction

of more equality between the members of society.

The social conditions under which they live become more similar.

The most striking inequalities between the social layers begin to dwindle away,

people become more alike not only in the economic realm, but

also in their habits, in their lifestyle.

In America the differences are less flagrant than in France.

For many people in the United States there is this similarity in,

for example, the schools they send their children to, the houses they live in,

or even the punishments that they can expect when they have committed a crime.

And Tocqueville says, although we here in France pride ourselves of living in

the country of liberty and of equality, in the United States we can observe a degree

of equality that we have not yet achieved in France.

Well, that is to say, we are not there yet, but

we may be moving in that same direction.

Tocqueville observed social mobility,

the possibility to move from one layer of the social ladder to another layer.

In the upward direction and sometimes also downward.

The Americans all hope that their children will climb the social ladder in

what they see as the country of the great opportunities, but

at the same time, they are scared to death when they think of the possibility

that their offspring will end up lower on that ladder.

A society with a lot of social mobility offers opportunities,

but it can not guarantee the children of the rich

that they will remain just as wealthy as their parents were.

Modernity comes with a kind of fear of falling, and

this was beautifully spelled out by Alain de Botton,

in the book aptly called status anxiety.

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