The Anthem Companion to Alexis de Tocqueville

The Anthem Companion to Alexis de Tocqueville contains original interpretations of Tocqueville’s major writings on democracy and revolution as well as his lesser-known ideas on colonies, prisons, and minorities. The Introduction by Daniel Gordon discusses the process by which Tocqueville was canonized during the Cold War and the need to reassess the place of Tocqueville’s voice in the conversation of post-Marxist social theory. Each of the contributors compares Tocqueville’s ideas on a given subject to those of other major social theorists, including Bourdieu, Dahl, Du Bois, Foucault, Lévi-Strauss and Marx.

This comprehensive volume is based on the idea that Tocqueville was not merely a “founder” or “precursor” whose ideas have been absorbed into modern social science. The broad questions that Tocqueville raised, his comparative vision, and his unique vocabulary and style can inspire deeper thinking in the social sciences today.