De Tocqueville Democracy in America

De Tocqueville Democracy in America

Written in the middle of the nineteenth century by French traveler, Democracy in America appears almost prophetic. De Tocqueville's vision of the character and future of American society included references to the entrenched materialism and commercialism; class conflict; separate spheres for men and women; and of a confusion between freedom and equality. In fact, most of de Tocqueville's observations and analyses of the United States remain relevant more than a hundred years later. For instance, in Chapter One of the second book of Democracy in America, the author states, "...equality, pushed to its furthest extent, may be confounded with freedom, yet there is good reason for distinguishing the one from the other. The taste which men have for liberty and that which they feel for equality are, in fact, two different things," (para. 5). The difference between liberty and equality, which is rarely vocalized as bluntly as it is in de Tocqueville's work, has been one of the underlying themes running throughout the course of American history. Whether class conflict, racial division, or gender role differentiation, American society has fulfilled de Tocqueville's image: "for equality their passion is ardent, insatiable, incessant, invincible; they call for equality in freedom; and if they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery." Similarly, de Tocqueville summed up the nature of American materialism: "The heart of man is of a larger mold; it can at once comprise a taste for the possessions of earth and the love of those of heaven; at times it may seem to cling devotedly to the one, but it will never be long without thinking of the other," (Book 2, Chapter 15). Regarding most matters of American society and ideology such as gender and race relations; class conflict; political climate; and material culture, de Tocqueville hits the nail on the head; only a few of De Tocqueville's observations were off the mark.

The current political climate in the United States is one that de Tocqueville predicted with eerie veracity in Section Four, Chapter 6: "Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd." The American people have largely become stupefied through the mass media and especially in the age of terrorism have become timid. De Tocqueville continues, "When the sovereign is elective, or narrowly watched by a legislature which is really elective and independent, the oppression that he exercises over individuals is sometimes greater, but it is always less degrading," (Book. 4, Chapter 6). In other words, the American government can be oppressive in subtle, nearly undetectable ways but the effects of the oppression are equally as subtle and seemingly benign.

Throughout Democracy in America, de Tocqueville makes key generalizations about American sociology and psychology. Although De Tocqueville incorrectly stereotypes Americans as being inordinately serious in Book 3, Chapter 15, he pinpoints the essence of the typical American: "Americans, who almost always preserve a staid demeanor and a frigid air, nevertheless frequently allow themselves to be borne away, far beyond the bounds of reason, by a sudden passion or a hasty opinion and sometimes gravely commit strange absurdities." De Tocqueville calls this "ignorance which originates in extreme publicity," and notes that in despotic states, the public is told how to act; they therefore act according to strict social norms of behavior. In the United States, however, people are "often obliged to do things which they have imperfectly learned, to say things which they imperfectly understand," (Book 3, Chapter 15). The segment on the Tonight Show called "Jaywalking" illustrates De Tocqueville's point exactly.

De Tocqueville's analysis of gender roles and relations in the United States has mixed veritability. Although he was correct in observing that men and women operate in totally different spheres, a situation that persisted until only a few decades ago, the author nevertheless makes some unpalatable comments such as "the despotic sway of women," (Book 3, Chapter 12). Still, writing in the middle of the nineteenth century, de Tocqueville did note some of the definite differences between gender relations in Europe and the United States. What De Tocqueville did not predict were the second and third waves of feminism which obliterated some of the gender role differentiation de Tocqueville assumes characterizes American culture. It is questionable whether, especially given that women could not vote at the time of publication, Americans viewed men and women "as beings of equal value," (Book 3, Chapter 12). Yet even though De Tocqueville stereotypes gender roles and gender relations, he notices the conflicts and double standards that besiege American women.