Alexis de Tocqueville : the first social scientist / Jon Elster.

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Material type:

TextLanguage: English Publication details: New York : Cambridge University Press, 2009.Edition: 1stDescription: x, 202 p. : ill. ; 23 cmISBN:

9780521740074

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

300.92 22 ELS

Online resources:

Click here to access online

Contents:

Preference formation -- Belief formation -- Self-interest and individualism -- Passions -- Desires, opportunities, capacities -- Patterns of social causality -- Equality and mobility -- Democratic government -- Revolution --

Summary: This 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, Jon 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 regime and the Revolution as grounded in the psychological relations among the peasantry, the bourgeoisie, and the nobility. Consistently going beyond exegetical commentary, Elster argues that Tocqueville is eminently worth reading today for his substantive and methodological insights.

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Holdings
Cover image	Item type	Current library	Home library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Materials specified	Vol info	URL	Copy number	Status	Notes	Date due	Barcode	Item holds	Item hold queue priority	Course reserves
	General Books	CUTN Central Library Social Sciences		Non-fiction		300.92 ELS (Browse shelf(Opens below))					Available			43444

Preference formation --
Belief formation --
Self-interest and individualism --
Passions --
Desires, opportunities, capacities --
Patterns of social causality --
Equality and mobility --
Democratic government --
Revolution --

This 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, Jon 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 regime and the Revolution as grounded in the psychological relations among the peasantry, the bourgeoisie, and the nobility. Consistently going beyond exegetical commentary, Elster argues that Tocqueville is eminently worth reading today for his substantive and methodological insights.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-197) and index.

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