Alexis De Tocqueville's Eternal Feminine

Abstract

In his work, Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville assigns to women the task he thinks most necessary in the preservation of a democratic regime: women nurture, educate, and impart to the young the virtues which maintain the moral standards and integriry of a particular society. This essay considers the limits of Tocqueville j. analysis with respect to his observations concerning gender roles and civic participation and seeks to set forth reasons why women and men who are committed to the realization of certain democratic ideals cannot wholeheartedly embrace Tocqueville S particular form of liberalism. ), none seem to find his admiration for the manner in which American women are excluded from active participation in the full range of human experiences particularly disturbing. For example, Koritansky suggests that Tocqueville's American woman may be asked to sacrifice "something perhaps sweeter than life" (1993, 287), but Koritansky does not identify that sacrifice. The sacrifice demanded of American women is that they abandon any hope of securing and enjoying political freedom. Tocqueville endorses this hellish means as necessary in the securement of the end-a stable democratic regime. Kessler does note certain limits of Tocqueville's analysis of sexual morality and asserts that Tocqueville did not "intend his reflections on sexual morality to be rigid prescriptions for the future, but rather, starting points for discussion and thought" (1992, 262). Following Kessler's suggestion then, this essay considers the limits of Tocqueville's analysis and discusses how his observations concerning gender roles and civic participation continue to influence contemporary theorists' attitudes toward these subjects. Political FreedomIn his introduction to Democracy in America, Tocqueville writes that "a most alarming spectacle" unfolds before him; as he gazes out over the terrain of France, England, and America, he sees the uncontrolled sprawl of equality leveling all distinctions in its path (Vol 1,(9)(10)(11)(12).3 Throughout Democracy, he asserts that he seeks to illuminate "the dangers to which the principle of equality exposes the independence of man" (Vol. 2,348). These dangers include isolation, concentration upon one's own well-being, and "an inordinate love of material gratification" (Vol 2, 23). The principle of equality degrades the soul and imposes a "universal uniformity" upon a "countless multitude of beings" (Vol. 2, 350).4 Furthermore, humankind is caught in a historical drift toward the condition of equality, a drift directed by Providence (Vol. 1, 6; Vol. 2, 352). However, neither history nor Providence sets "insurmountable" limits upon human action according to Tocqueville: "It is true that around every man a fatal circle is traced beyond which h e cannot pass; but within the wide verge of that circle he is powerful and free; as it is with man, so with communities" (Vol. 2, 348).5This statement reveals at least two important aspects of Tocqueville's thought. First, despite suprahuman constraints, indiv...