Tocqueville's Solitude--Tocqueville On The Individual Crisis In Times Of Mass

The thesis focuses on Tocqueville's study on the relationship between the mass and the individual. The system of Tocqueville's thoughts is so large, which is called a panoptic study and prediction on the democratic society, that every main school of thought in different times can find proof from his thoughts to support their own points. The thesis is not going to do the similar job, otherwise, it will focus on the field which is not studied frequently—how the individual lives in the time of mass. Tocqueville ever said that there were three men had given him the most effects: Pascal, Montesquieu and Rousseau. Few people have paid attention to the relationship between Rousseau and Tocqueville, so the thesis will try in such field.The thesis proves the point in such order:In the introduction, it demonstrates the meaning of studying on Tocqueville, and summarizes the existing studies on Tocqueville. Also, it shows its concentration and innovation.In the first chapter, it analyzes the different meanings of"democracy"in Tocqueville's works and the reasons why Tocqueville firmly believed that the democratic times is inevitable. Also it shows the complexity of the new times.In the second chapter, based on Democracy in America, it summarizes the solutions to the disadvantages of democracy: political freedom and religious tradition.In the third chapter, based on the studies on the times of mass by Gustave Le Bon and Michael Oakeshott, it shows the characters of the times of mass, which concerned Tocqueville a lot, and he turned to Rousseau to find the solutions.