How does Alexis De Tocqueville fail to see that the unequal Essay

How does Alexis De Tocqueville fail to see that the unequal accumulation of wealth resulting from Capitalism cannot be fully con - Essay Example He was from egalitarian society not the newly formed capitalist society, so this could justify why he had a blind spot concerning capitalism and could not redress the challenges of industrial commercial system on the democratic system that strives towards the equalization of social conditions. Discussion Tocqueville ideas have had extensive impacts on the concept of penance and crime, equality and democracy. His historical background immensely influenced his democracy theories. Equality of conditions is the main point of focus of Alexis Tocqueville theories. He suggests that parity is fundamental to democracy, and absence of parity caused crime. His opponents use this dependence on the concept of equality as the central weakness. For instance, Tocqueville failed to recognize that unequal wealth accumulation resulting from capitalism could not be controlled in a democracy, which meant to have socially equalizing tendencies. The equality of situations denotes a social state where one p erson’s influence over another –based on the aristocratic regime- is substituted with the egalitarian notion of individual consent. In these conditions, the act of each has two main reasonable basis, public will and personal will. The triumph of consent over the impact and the advancement of human autonomy closely connected to it have critical, political and social impacts, leaving little as it was1. Alexis Tocqueville felt religious terror, when he examined the inspiring power of this historical transformation, which he observed as providential and in agreement with humanity, therefore, his examination of the democratic world somehow is an attempt to explore his fear. Tocqueville argues that, â€Å"intellectual life would be changed by democracy, just like the passion of men† p 230. In addition, under pressure from autonomy of individuals, views would be generalized, mores softened. Therefore, public view translates to the central, influential voice. Whereas in dividual rights controls, men’s live, the ends of man heeds into neglect. Similarly, the moral life’s content is emptied from the vessel of democracy. The desire for equality, essential to democracy, overwhelms all other concerns, and starts its powerful battle to eradicate the inherent inequalities of people. It is possible to recognize the modern society in Tocqueville’s views. What critics stress in Alexis works is the tragic, and, in fact, paradoxical, recognition that democracy is extremely natural to human beings and, if not controlled, detrimental to human nature. Allowed free dominance, this desire for equality- an egalitarian instinct- restricts democracy itself, in various ways. For instance, it limits democracy by paradoxically rebuilding a natural state, originally elaborated by critical thinkers such as Plato, Marx and Hobbes as the pre-civilized situation at the centre of democratic civilization. In addition, its spreads envy, destructive of any sy stem; and finally, by gathering the natural autonomies of virtue and reason. Even though, Tocqueville recognized the aristocratic rule to be unfair, as it was anchored on an unnatural principle of familial autonomy, its hierarchical order still preserved room for principles transcending the individual will. The