Democracy in America

Tocqueville concedes that only God can understand every individual, and dependence on general ideas is typical of most people. He is personally ambivalent about this, observing, “General ideas are admirable in that they permit the human mind to bring rapid judgments to a great number of objects at one time; but on the other hand, they never provide it with anything but incomplete notions” (411). Generalities increase understanding, but only to a point. Tocqueville observes, however, that general ways of thinking grow as democracy does, because individuals become more alike and citizens feel they resemble one another.

As they turn away from traditions that come from class structures, individuals will form opinions based on humanity as a whole. Social and economic life in a democracy further lends itself to this, as “[m]en who live in centuries of equality have much curiosity and little leisure; their life is so practical, so complicated, so agitated, so active that little time remains to them for thinking” (414). In democracy individuals seek quick gratification, which further enhances their dependence on overarching concepts.

Tocqueville argues that the French have been interested in political generalities precisely because few people can wield actual political power.