Alexis de Tocqueville, the First Social Scientist

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AuthorJon Elster
PublisherCambridge University Press
PublishedJun 05 2012
Book FormatPaperback
ISBN-139780521740074
Dimensions9.21 X 5.83 X 0.63 inches
Weight 0.73 pounds
BISAC
CategoriesBiography & Autobiography > Historical
LanguageEnglish

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Book 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 R�gime 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.

Author Bio

Before coming to Columbia University, he taught in Paris, Oslo and Chicago.

His publications include Ulysses and the Sirens (1979), Sour Grapes (1983), Making Sense of Marx (1985), The Cement of Society (1989), Solomonic Judgements (1989), Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences (1989), Local Justice (1992) and Political Psychology (1993).

His research interests include the theory of rational choice, the theory of distributive justice and the history of social thought (Marx and Tocqueville). He is currently working on a comparative study of constitution-making processes from the Federal Convention to the present and on a study of retroactive justice in countries that have recently emerged from authoritarian or totalitarian rule. Research interests include Theory of Rational Choice and the Theory of Distributive Justice.

Research Interest

Theory of Rational Choice

Theory of Distributive Justice

Robert K. Merton Professor of the Social Sciences

Political Science

Ph.D., University of Paris (1972)

Source: Columbia University