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Tocqueville (POL1) - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Pandemic forced rapid adaptations: remote work, reduced travel and lifestyle changes
      - Had to consider short-term vs long-term adaptibility
  - - - Customs influenced how individuals adapted to changing circumstances and shaped their interactions with one another and the state
- - - - The contrast between the 'real' and the 'ideal' ultimately discredits the ideal
      - He was concerned about inequality and poverty
      - The ideal does not hold up to the real when looking at USA - thus no hope for the future
      - Realist: The ideal is simply a pretence and doesn't represent the real - e.g. slavery
    - - Regardless of this contrast, the ideal will still persist
      - In the long term, people will always conform to it just like politics will to the ideal
    - - Holds America accountable to the ideal
      - Every American has a right to the 'American Dream'/the ideal
  - - - The jury system ensured fair trials and protected individual rights - also enshrined in 6th Amendment
        
        could argue that the POTUS' ability to shape SCOTUS slightly undermines this, and also the lack of accountability SCOTUS has
        
        judicial review acts as a check on legislative power
      - Political associations allowed citizens to engage in collective action
      - Historical effects of Puritanism influenced American values and institutions
  - - - European states would succumb to more power states if they had federalism
    - - Admired the way power was disseminated into townships, helped mitigate the dangers of highly centralised administration
  - - - covert form of tyranny
      - links to the welfare state
      - can occur in the excess of individualism and the pursuit of equality, leading to state intervention
- - - - Fixed
      - Unoriginal
      - Predictable
      - Impedes progress
      - Complacency
    - - 'tyranny' also used by Madison and Brutus
      - Having to live together tyrannises us
      - Need a distinction between aristocratic society (tyranny to bodies) and democratic society (tyranny against souls)
      - Tyrannical power directed at people's bodies (murder) vs tyrannical power against people's souls (alienating people)
- - - - perhaps a premonition for what we term as 'political correctness' in contemporary times
        
        This fear of being socially ostracised and alienated due to having an opinion which strays from and even challenges majority consensus
      - dangers of conformity and the pressure to conform to majority opinion stifled intellectual diversity and hindered the development of a robust culture of debate and critical thinking.
  - - - Individuals were not as self-sufficient as they believed.
        
        can link to the welfare state and them being seduced into servitude
        
        Tocqueville highlighted the danger of conformity and the suppression of dissenting voices in democratic societies
        
        In welfare states, conformity can arise due to reliance on state institutions. Citizens may conform to prevailing norms and opinions, fearing that dissent could jeopardise their access to essential services
        
        this conformity can hinder critical thinking and independence of mind, aligning with Tocqueville's concerns
        
        striking a balance between collective welfare and individual autonomy is challenging. Excessive reliance on state services may erode personal initiative and self-reliance
        
        Tocqueville’s warning about the tyranny of the majority becomes relevant here: If the majority supports state intervention, dissenting voices may be marginalised.