Revisiting Tocqueville’s American Woman

This paper revisits Tocqueville’s famous portrait of the American female, which begins with assertions of her equality to males but ends with her self-cloistering in the domestic sphere. Taking a cue from Tocqueville’s extended sketch of the “faded” pioneer wife in “A Fortnight in the Wilderness” an...

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Main Author: HENDERSON, Christine Rodman
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Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/124
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spelling sg-smu-ink.cis_research-11232023-06-15T03:36:02Z Revisiting Tocqueville’s American Woman HENDERSON, Christine Rodman This paper revisits Tocqueville’s famous portrait of the American female, which begins with assertions of her equality to males but ends with her self-cloistering in the domestic sphere. Taking a cue from Tocqueville’s extended sketch of the “faded” pioneer wife in “A Fortnight in the Wilderness” and drawing connections to Tocqueville’s criticisms of the division of industrial labor, I argue that the American girl’s ostensibly free choice to remove herself from public life is not an act of freedom. Rather, it is a manifestation of a particular type of unfreedom that reveals underappreciated connections between the two great dangers about which Democracy in America warns: tyrannical majoritarianism and soft despotism. My argument that the girl’s choice to withdraw from public life is coerced rather than free thus highlights the nonpolitical sources of oppression that exist within democratic societies. The paper concludes by raising questions about the need for coercion within Tocquevillian democracy and the implications of this for Tocqueville’s “new” political science—indeed, for his liberalism more generally. 2023-04-28T07:00:00Z text https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/124 info:doi/10.1177/00905917231167092 Research Collection College of Integrative Studies eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Alexis de Tocqueville women soft despotism tyranny of the majority liberalism equality adaptive preferences Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Political Science
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Alexis de Tocqueville
women
soft despotism
tyranny of the majority
liberalism
equality
adaptive preferences
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Political Science
spellingShingle Alexis de Tocqueville
women
soft despotism
tyranny of the majority
liberalism
equality
adaptive preferences
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Political Science
HENDERSON, Christine Rodman
Revisiting Tocqueville’s American Woman
description This paper revisits Tocqueville’s famous portrait of the American female, which begins with assertions of her equality to males but ends with her self-cloistering in the domestic sphere. Taking a cue from Tocqueville’s extended sketch of the “faded” pioneer wife in “A Fortnight in the Wilderness” and drawing connections to Tocqueville’s criticisms of the division of industrial labor, I argue that the American girl’s ostensibly free choice to remove herself from public life is not an act of freedom. Rather, it is a manifestation of a particular type of unfreedom that reveals underappreciated connections between the two great dangers about which Democracy in America warns: tyrannical majoritarianism and soft despotism. My argument that the girl’s choice to withdraw from public life is coerced rather than free thus highlights the nonpolitical sources of oppression that exist within democratic societies. The paper concludes by raising questions about the need for coercion within Tocquevillian democracy and the implications of this for Tocqueville’s “new” political science—indeed, for his liberalism more generally.
format text
author HENDERSON, Christine Rodman
author_facet HENDERSON, Christine Rodman
author_sort HENDERSON, Christine Rodman
title Revisiting Tocqueville’s American Woman
title_short Revisiting Tocqueville’s American Woman
title_full Revisiting Tocqueville’s American Woman
title_fullStr Revisiting Tocqueville’s American Woman
title_full_unstemmed Revisiting Tocqueville’s American Woman
title_sort revisiting tocqueville’s american woman
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2023
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/124
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