Alexis de Tocqueville :: the first social scientist /

"This book proposes a new interpretation of Alexis de Tocqueville that views him first and foremost as a social scientist rather than as a political theorist. Drawing on his earlier work on the explanation of social behavior, Jon Elster argues that Tocqueville's main claim to our attention...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Elster, Jon, 1940-
Format: Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Zusammenfassung:"This book proposes a new interpretation of Alexis de Tocqueville that views him first and foremost as a social scientist rather than as a political theorist. Drawing on his earlier work on the explanation of social behavior, Jon Elster argues that Tocqueville's main claim to our attention today rests on the large number of exportable causal mechanisms to be found in his work, many of which are still worthy of further exploration. Elster proposes a novel reading of Democracy in America in which the key explanatory variable is the rapid economic and political turnover rather than equality of wealth at any given point in time. He also offers a reading of The Ancien regime and the Revolution as grounded in the psychological relations among the peasantry, the bourgeoisie, and the nobility. Consistently going beyond exegetical commentary, Elster argues that Tocqueville is eminently worth reading today for his substantive and methodological insights."--Jacket
Beschreibung:1 online resource (x, 202 pages) : illustrations
Bibliographie:Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-197) and index.
ISBN:9781139129916
1139129910
9780511800429
0511800428
9780511501326
0511501323
9780511738081
0511738080
9780511503788
0511503784

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