Explore The Social Basis Of Democracy

Charles Alexis de Tocgueville is a distinguished thinker on democracy, who experienced the transition from traditional society to demotratic society. He convicted that the democracy would win the final success in the competition, though it had some disvantages or faults and even would lead the society to the danger situation of autocracy. Then it was the core subject for Tocgueville to explore the issues of democracy to make its development healthy.In his opinion, the democracy was an arduous and complicated task, whose winning or not was entirely decided by many causes, including geographical features,legal system and so on.However,amidst them the basic character of people was the most important one.The so-called basic character of people indicated to the institutions and customs as well as the psychological characters,which constituted the founedation of a nation's democracy.Tocgueville acguired his condusion by inguiring the democratic practice of two countries, which are America and France. He attributed the opposite fates of these countries to their respective basic character of people. In France, people were enthusiastic at totalitarionism, individuUism and showed enimites to religion and unelerestimated laws, which was in sharp contrast to Americans'spirits of town, liberal colloboration and respecting of laws. So the democracy in France was hard to step out of the trouble, but in America it grew well.Then Tocquevile arriued at his condusion that we should pay more attention to the basic character of people in order to construct effective democracy.Tocguevile based his thoughts on the reflection of reasonalism. As we know that Democratic Revelutionary in France was instrueted by the Enlightenment theories,and those revolutionary leaders over-emphasized the role of which abstract transcendent natural law played in this thorough change. This led them to believe in the strenghth of reasoning and institutionalization, but turn a blind eye to the influence of basic character of people.However, Americans owned a kind of perspective of mediate and discreet reason which made them tend to construct their laws reasonably on the peculiar character of people.Tocguevile pursued a different political philosophy at his time, so that formed his peculiar political sociology views. He regarded politics as a social and practical career which needed objective and practical research so as to obtain its social supports. Perhaps his idea was not perfect, but his orignal contribution has never been overemphasized.The stage of Tocguevile has been far away, but the democratic cause of mankind hasn't reached its end,and the problems confronted with him still exsists in our society nowadays.Therefore, the reflection on the basic character of people hasn't outdated.It is necessary for those who get full anticipation for democracy to learn form Toeguevile.