Hockfield was struck by the democratic nature of american society. He realised that this gave the majority an enormous power if it chose to use it in certain ways. The danger, i think he felti is that these people will impose ther the their views. His main concern is s his bottom up Gereay - so if you have everyone whose colo more or less the same and there's a predominativef of protestantism,. This is not being held together by virtue. Its being heldtogether by the desire to make money and the pursuit of self interest. And i there's one thing to hockfield stands for, its should always place liberty above other considerations.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) and his examination of the American democratic system. He wrote De La Démocratie en Amérique in two parts, published in 1835 and 1840, when France was ruled by the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe. Tocqueville was interested in how aspects of American democracy, in the age of President Andrew Jackson, could be applied to Europe as it moved away from rule by monarchs and aristocrats. His work has been revisited by politicians ever since, particularly in America, with its analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of direct democracy and its warnings of mediocrity and the tyranny of the majority.
With
Robert Gildea
Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford
Susan-Mary Grant
Professor of American History at Newcastle University
and
Jeremy Jennings
Professor of Political Theory and Head of the School of Politics & Economics at King's College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.