Democracy in America
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http://i5.nyu.edu/~ms126/deTocqueville.htm Capitalism and the pursuit of individual wealth are seen as hallmarks of contemporary American culture. Indeed, de Tocqueville remarks upon this in Democracy in America. However, ideas about profit, corporations, capitalism, and the individual have all shifted radically in the past 200 years. Drawing on the sources you have read, the film Roger and Me, and class lectures, discuss changing ideas about individuality and corporations in American culture and how contemporary ideas are both different and similar to those that de Tocqueville witnessed in the 1830s.
On the surface, Robert Putnam’s example of ‘bowling alone’ has little to do with the ‘vibrancy of civil society.’ However, he goes on to point out that nearly a third more Americans bowled in 1993 than voted in the 1994 congressional elections. Bowling is more popular than voting. Surveys by the Roper Organization and the U.S. Labor Department as well as the General Social Survey demonstrate a marked decline in traditional civic associations such as unions, the PTA and the Lions and Elks over the past two and one half decades. (Putnam 1995:66-70) The contradiction between this civic disengagement and Tocqueville’s observations of 160 years ago helps to highlight the myths and generalizations about individual freedom, profit, and capitalism put forth both by scholars and by Americans themselves. In the discussion that follows, I hope to shed light on some of these assumptions and meanings. When de Tocqueville traveled to the United States in 1831, it took 37 days to cross the ocean. There were no satellite communications, no television, telephone or even telegraph. Consensus on political issues was reached after time consuming discussion carried on with difficulty over great distances. African Americans were enslaved. North America was largely unpopulated. To be sure, radical changes were already taking place. In Virginia, Nat Turner led his slave revolt that August. President Jackson was championing the common man, and native Americans were forcibly migrated from eastern states into western territories. Directory: yaoleechena -> 1778-1784 -> essay3 essay3 -> The Cherokee Nation and Andrew Jackson 1829—1832 essay3 -> Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) 1778-1784 -> Introduction from Diversity Comes Strength 1778-1784 -> Nullification controversy 1778-1784 -> Scartoons: Racial Satire and the Civil War essay3 -> Andrew Jackson & the origins of the Democratic Party Download 21.42 Kb. Share with your friends:
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