Alexis de Tocqueville

T ocqueville is not ordinarily included among the founders of sociology; I consider this neglect of Tocqueville’s sociological writings unjustified. But I have still another reason for wishing to discuss him. For in studying Montesquieu, Comte, and Marx, the relation between economic phenomena and the political organization of society was necessarily central to my analyses. Each time I explained first the interpretation given by the thinker of the society in which he was living. The historical diagnosis was the primary fact to which I related the system of each sociologist. Tocqueville’s historical diagnosis differs from that of Comte or Marx. Instead of giving priority either to the industrial reality, as Comte did, or to the capitalist reality, as Marx did, he gave priority to the democratic reality. I shall attempt to define what Tocqueville meant by the irresistible advance of modern societies toward democracy. And I shall explore the manner in which Tocqueville himself conceived his work and, as we might say in a language unknown to him, the manner in which he conceived sociology.

Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence