Tocqueville, Democracy and Social Reform

Alexis de Tocqueville is best known as the author of Democracy in America and The Ancien Régime and the Revolution . Yet among his contemporaries he was also esteemed for his brilliant investigations on social issues such as prison reform, pauperism and the plight of abandoned children. This study explores the intellectual and social context of these neglected yet startlingly innovative writings and it reveals how they proved central to the composition of those works for which Tocqueville is best known.

'Drolet has provided an admirably focused account of Tocqueville's central dilemma.' - Ceri Crossley, Modern & Contemporary France

Autorentext
MICHAEL DROLET lectures in the History of Political Thought at the Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London.

Inhalt
List of Abbreviations Introduction PART I: SOCIETY, ECONOMY AND DEMOCRACY The American Journey and Tocqueville's Intellectual Awakening Embracing Liberal Political Economy and then Rejecting it: Tocqueville's Reading of Say and Malthus Equality, Liberty and the Problem of Self-interest: Democracy in America (1835) Legitimism and Political Economy: The Influence of Villeneuve-Bargemont PART II: DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL REFORM Tocqueville and Beaumont on Prison Reform The Investigations into the Causes of Poverty and the Ways to Remedy it The Investiagions into Abandoned Children PART III: DEMOCRACY AND REVOLUTION Democracy and the Threats to Liberty: Democracy in America (1840) Administrative Centralisation and the Threats to Liberty: The Composition of The Ancien Régime and the Revolution Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index