Democracy in America: Volume II

Democracy in America is a two-volume treatise by French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville, written and published in 1835 and 1840. The book explores the effects of the democratic revolution that he believed had been occurring over the previous two centuries. He examines why and how democracy has succeeded as a political form in various countries around the world, including those with very different cultures; he also analyzes its effect on individual human beings as citizens within such democracies.Democracy in America has been highly praised for its ability to bring a broad vision of American society and its "habits of heart" before European audiences at a time when democratic revolution was profoundly altering the social order of Europe. It also helped establish the boundaries and methods of social scientific disciplines such as sociology, economics, and political science. It also offered a nuanced exploration of American exceptionalism (the idea that the U.S. differed qualitatively from European countries). In the twentieth century, this work helped inspire two different (and often opposing) schools of thought in U.S. political science: the "liberal" camp was inspired by Tocqueville's defense of civil liberties and American provincialism while the "conservative" camp embraced his warning that an egalitarian democracy could transform into tyranny. Read more