However‚ Alexis de Tocqueville warns of the ‘Tyranny of the Majority’‚ this is where the opinions and views of the majority will oppress the views of the minorities; defeating the de facto aim of democracy‚ to eliminate oppression through tyranny of the individual. As such a democratic system is flawed with the continual possibility of tyranny‚ with “institutions…necessary to overcome [such] democratic instability”. Subsequently‚ this leads to
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of isolation is transformed into an extreme form of individualism‚ it creates selfishness and egoism among people. When these people come together to form a majority which in a democratic society enjoys a great amount of power‚ it might cause the tyranny of majority – de Tocqueville’s main concern. The concept of equality of condition is more complex than it first seems and a society based on this fact poses a threat to freedom. De Tocqueville argues that “the influence of the equality of condition
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Throughout history people have enjoyed a democracy which basically puts the way that society runs in the hands of the people who live in it. In the essay "Severing the Human Connection" by H. Bruce Miller there is a valid argument that our society has turned for the worse. In the past our society has expected everyone to behave in a manner which benefits everyone in it‚ everyone should respect and cherish the freedom and therefore the freedom should stay. But as we all see and experience every day
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which would still be democratic while incurring scarcely any risk of tyranny” Unlike Rousseau‚ Tocqueville has the advantage of having working with more than just a theoretical model of a society and‚ as such‚ his understanding of how realistically the majority rule could function differs significantly. He perceives the majority rule of the legislature less as a route for achieving the common good‚ but rather as a threat of tyranny both political and social; furthermore‚ and the solutions he offers
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(Mill‚ Introduction). Mill feels that the will of the people is actually the will of the majority of those who are in charge of governing others. To Mill‚ this is the tyranny of the majority which to him is just as evil as the exercise of absolute power‚ especially in a cruel and oppressive way. In order to fight against this tyranny by preserving dissenting
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also acknowledges the difficulty of truly nurturing individuality in a society in which the majority’s opinion stifles that of the minority. He takes issue with the illegitimate power society has over the individual. He worries that this “social tyranny” hinders the self-cultivation of the individual. Although he fears that the despotism of custom will lead to the stagnation of society‚ his solution to this problem ironically requires that we adopt his concern for well being of others as custom.
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Democracy in the United States has had many interpretations based on success and failures‚ Alexis de Tocqueville initially details how in comparison to Europe‚ the United States has established a problematic and darker side of democracy. American Democracy like any “great experiment” is undoubtedly bound to have flaws‚ Tocqueville highlights these flaws he noticed on his nine-month trip to the United States. The reason Tocqueville chose to focus on the United States‚ in particular‚ is because its
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the United States as the minority did not get a say in how they wanted their government to be run. He feared that all the virtues he honored would be endangered by the “tyranny of the majority”. The American Government was successful‚ but still contained flaws. Tocqueville believed that in order to keep the country from the “tyranny of the majority”‚ more power would need to be given to the minority to balance the power of the people and keep the majority from abusing their power.
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Therefore‚ he introduces the idea that the rule of the majority is intrinsically related to democracy‚ but it does not directly means that it is also a tyranny. He saw democracy as an inevitable outcome‚ but not necessarily a good one because it could easily fall into a tyranny in certain circumstances. Similarly‚ Mill in On liberty points out that democracy was born when the people decided that “the rulers should be identified with the people‚ and that their interest
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hand won. For example‚ when Rosa Parks didn’t give up her seat on that hot Alabama day‚ she stood up to the majority tyranny. The majority won by putting her in jail‚ however; the minority prevailed by establishing the civil rights movements. There are many differences between majority rule and minority rights. One of the big differences between the two is majority tyranny. This is when the majority violates the rights of minority’s. When the majority thinks they are in the right they may
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