Alexis de Tocqueville, the First Social Scientist

Author： Jon Elster  

Publisher： Cambridge University Press‎

Publication year： 2009

E-ISBN: 9780511501326

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780521518444

Subject： C91 Sociology

Keyword： 社会学

Language： ENG

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Alexis de Tocqueville, the First Social Scientist

Description

The book proposes a new interpretation of Alexis de Tocqueville that views him first and foremost as a social scientist rather than as a political theorist. Drawing on his earlier work on the explanation of social behavior, Elster argues that Tocqueville's main claim to our attention today rests on the large number of exportable causal mechanisms to be found in his work, many of which are still worthy of further exploration. Elster proposes a novel reading of Democracy in America in which the key explanatory variable is the rapid economic and political turnover rather than equality of wealth at any given point in time. He also offers a reading of The Ancien Régime and the Revolution as grounded in the psychological relations among the peasantry, the bourgeoisie, and the nobility. Consistently going beyond exegetical commentary, he argues that Tocqueville is eminently worth reading today for his substantive and methodological insights.

Chapter

Cover

Half-title

Title

Copyright

Contents

Preface

A Note on the Texts

Introduction

1 Preference Formation

INTRODUCTION

SPILLOVER, COMPENSATION, SATIATION

MOTIVATED MOTIVATIONS

2 Belief Formation

INTRODUCTION

BELIEFS FROM AUTHORITY

RATIONAL BELIEFS AND GENERAL IDEAS

TOCQUEVILLE AND HEGEL VERSUS MONTAIGNE AND PASCAL

CONFORMISM

BELIEFS AND INTERESTS

IDEOLOGICAL BELIEFS

3 Self-Interest and Individualism

INTRODUCTION

ENLIGHTENED SELF-INTEREST

COORDINATION AND COOPERATION

INDIVIDUALISM

4 Passions

INTRODUCTION

PASSION OVERRIDING INTEREST

ENVY

ENVY AND HATRED

HOW PASSION CAUSES TEMPORARY PREFERENCE CHANGE

SOCIAL NORMS

5 Desires, Opportunities, Capacities

INTRODUCTION

DESIRES AND CAPACITIES

DESIRES AND OPPORTUNITIES

POSITIVE IMPACT ON DESIRES, POSITIVE IMPACT ON OPPORTUNITIES

NEGATIVE IMPACT ON DESIRES, NEGATIVE IMPACT ON OPPORTUNITIES

POSITIVE IMPACT ON DESIRES, NEGATIVE IMPACT ON OPPORTUNITIES

NEGATIVE IMPACT ON DESIRES, POSITIVE IMPACT ON OPPORTUNITIES

INTERACTION BETWEEN DESIRES AND OPPORTUNITIES

6 Patterns of Social Causality

INTRODUCTION

TOCQUEVILLE’S IDEA OF A SOCIAL EQUILIBRIUM

TRANSITION EFFECTS AND EQUILIBRIUM EFFECTS

SHORT-TERM EFFECTS AND LONG-TERM EFFECTS

PARTIAL EFFECTS AND NET EFFECTS

MARGINAL AND GLOBAL EFFECTS

NO HALFWAY HOUSES

7 Equality and Mobility

INTRODUCTION

INEQUALITY IN THE ANCIEN RÉGIME

EQUALITY AND STATUS CONSISTENCY

POLITICAL EQUALITY IN THE ANCIEN RÉGIME

SOCIAL MOBILITY IN THE ANCIEN RÉGIME

ARE THERE CLASSES IN AMERICA?

8 Democratic Government

INTRODUCTION

THE METABOLISM OF DEMOCRATIC POLITICS

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

CHECKS AND BALANCES

THE QUALITY OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

PATHOLOGIES OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT

9 Revolution

INTRODUCTION

PRECONDITIONS: ‘‘ON NE S’APPUIE QUE SUR CE QUI RÉSISTE’’

PRECIPITANTS: THE ‘‘TOCQUEVILLE PARADOX’’

TRIGGERS

1848: THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Conclusion

References

Index

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