Th 9/30 Alexis de Tocqueville, “Effects of Individualism Combated” 41-46

Topic: Community and extrapolitical social institutions

1. What does de Tocqueville mean by political freedom and equality, and what does he think the excess of either one is dangerous?

2. How does de Tocqueville define individualism, and why does he claim that it originates in democracies rather than aristocracies?

3. According to de Tocqueville, how does American democracy strengthen the sense of community?