Pride and Ambition in Democracy in America

• In Event: Moral and Theoretical Underpinnings of Political Life

Abstract

In Democracy in America, Tocqueville observes Americans’ propensity to bouts of fanatical spiritualism. He argues that these bouts are properly understood as backlash against the overwhelming dominant materialism of modern democracy. Denied and suppressed, religious impulses do not die out; rather, they reemerge in radicalized and extreme forms. In this paper, I argue that Tocqueville sees a parallel phenomenon in the realm of pride and ambition. Suppressed by democracy, pride and ambition do not disappear. On the contrary, they are liable to flare up in dangerous and extreme forms. Tocqueville thought that pride ought to be accommodated and even fostered in modern democracy not only because he thought it was an appealing quality, but also because he thought it was a permanent aspect of human nature and that modern democracy’s suppression of it would never fully work, and would, in fact, create new problems.

Author

• Dana Stauffer, University of Texas at Austin