Tocqueville's Political Economy

Richard Swedberg

Published by Princeton University Press 2009

Tocqueville's Political Economy

Richard Swedberg

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400830084

Overview
Contents

About this book

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) has long been recognized as a major political and social thinker as well as historian, but his writings also contain a wealth of little-known insights into economic life and its connection to the rest of society. In Tocqueville's Political Economy, Richard Swedberg shows that Tocqueville had a highly original and suggestive approach to economics--one that still has much to teach us today.

Through careful readings of Tocqueville's two major books and many of his other writings, Swedberg lays bare Tocqueville's ingenious way of thinking about major economic phenomena. At the center of Democracy in America, Tocqueville produced a magnificent analysis of the emerging entrepreneurial economy that he found during his 1831-32 visit to the United States. More than two decades later, in The Old Regime and the Revolution, Tocqueville made the complementary argument that it was France's blocked economy and society that led to the Revolution of 1789. In between the publication of these great works, Tocqueville also produced many lesser-known writings on such topics as property, consumption, and moral factors in economic life. When examined together, Swedberg argues, these books and other writings constitute an interesting alternative model of economic thinking, as well as a major contribution to political economy that deserves a place in contemporary discussions about the social effects of economics.

Author / Editor information

Richard Swedberg is professor of sociology at Cornell University. His books include Principles of Economic Sociology; Max Weber and the Idea of Economic Sociology; and Schumpeter: A Biography (all Princeton).

Reviews

Swedberg fills his book with intriguing information, observations, and syntheses, some of which range far beyond his stated topic.---Alan Sica, American Journal of Sociology

"In this highly readable account of Tocqueville's entire career, Richard Swedberg shows him to be a pioneering economic sociologist who had an unusual appreciation of the unique features of the early American economy. There is a vast literature on Tocqueville as an ideologue of democracy but nothing like this book for depicting Tocqueville as a sophisticated political economist in the tradition of the English classical economists."—Mark Blaug, Amsterdam School of Economics

[T]he book is engaging and, along with its 50 pages of notes and source material, offers many insights into this important period in the history of economic thought.---J. Halteman, Choice

"Tocqueville's Political Economy is written with all the intelligence, thoroughness, and erudition characteristic of Richard Swedberg. By laying out Tocqueville's largely overlooked understanding of how economies work and relate to the rest of societies, this book makes a major contribution."—Bruce G. Carruthers, Northwestern University

"In this thorough, clearly written, and superbly organized book, Swedberg persuasively presents Tocqueville as a creative and original analyst of economic topics. Swedberg also answers the question of whether Tocqueville 'got' America with a resounding 'yes.' Swedberg's work focuses especially on Tocqueville's way of thinking, and is a fresh, outstanding addition to contemporary Tocqueville scholarship and to the study of modern economic thought."—James T. Schleifer, author of The Making of Tocqueville's "Democracy in America"

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter One. The Economy of the New World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	6
Chapter Two. The Other Democratic Economy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
Chapter Three. Tocqueville’s Background in Economics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
Chapter Four. Tocqueville’s Approach to Economic Analysis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
Chapter Five. Pauperism and the Habits of Property Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
Chapter Six. Politics in a Democratic Economy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
Chapter Seven. Foreign Affairs and Economic Affairs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Chapter Eight. Threats to the Democratic Economy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Chapter Nine. Sorrento and the Return to Thinking Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	219
Chapter Ten. The Economy of the Old World Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	238
Epilogue. Thinking with Tocqueville Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	272
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	337

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