Democratic Family in Tocqueville's America On Difference in the Age of Equality

Alexis de Tocqueville''s political masterpiece, §Democracy in America, remains the most important §contribution to the study of modern democracy to §date. Though Tocqueville scholars have exhausted §the work''s most popular themes like ''the tyranny of §the majority'' and ''democratic despotism'' they have §overlooked a feature of American life central to the §survival of the nation: the democratic family. The §Democratic Family in Tocqueville''s America examines §the greatest dangers of democratic life and shows §how the family remediates these through the new §roles of American women;as domestic ''keepers of §morals'' women take on an instructive role held by §men in ages past, and in doing so, exemplify a novel §recognition of difference in the age of equality. §The book argues for stronger attention to women and §family as features key to understanding how American §democracy thrived in Tocqueville''s day, and gives us §reason to hope that it can survive today. The §Democratic Family sheds considerable light on an §understudied aspect of Tocqueville''s work and can be §enjoyed by both academic audiences as well as §readers with general interest in American democracy.