Democracy In America Tocqueville

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What makes America the unique country it is today? Alexis de Tocqueville, historian and author of Democracy in America, wrote his analysis of the American way in hopes of answering this exact question. In his writing, Tocqueville addresses, “In America… The spirit of gain is always eager” (Tocqueville 35). The American Dream is a continual journey for more; more money, more possessions, more friends and family, more joy, laughter, and happiness. According to Tocqueville, it is typical of Americans to have an unceasing need for gain in some form. This necessity for growth is paramount in the American Dream and people’s perception of it. Yet, despite the omnipresent nature of an American’s spirit of improvement, there are some who do not …show more content…
There are some who no longer believe in the American quality of improvement due to the recent economic problems that have taken place within the country. However, despite economic and financial downfalls, the idea of improvement is continues to be frequently exhibited in the everyday lives of those who seek the American Dream, in aspects that go deeper than merely cash. Moreover, the American characteristic of endless advancement has helped to grow and shape the unique American society that is known throughout the world today. In his book, Democracy in America, Tocqueville frequently compares America’s culture to the culture of other countries, particularly the French. Tocqueville describes of France’s aristocratic society in writing, “When the citizens of a community are classed according to rank, profession or birth… everyone thinks that the utmost limits of human power are to be discerned in proximity to himself, and no one seeks any longer to resist the law of his destiny. Not, indeed, that an aristocratic people absolutely deny man’s faculty of self-improvement, but they do not hold it to be indefinite; they can conceive amelioration, but not change: they imagine that the …show more content…
Because of recent economic issues that have plagued this country, some will claim that America has given up on striving for growth. In their minds, if a country is unable to create constructive progress in something as important as its economic state, then that country is unable to grow as a whole. Richard Dobbs, along with his co-authors of the McKinsey Global Institute Report, discussed the idea of income inequality in his article, Poorer than Their Parents? A New Perspective on Income Inequality. Dobbs analyzes this concept in regards to the decrease in America’s economic deterioration that over the last decade or so. Income inequality “is the unequal distribution of household or individual income across the various participants in an economy” (Root). It is easily represented and understood to the general public through something called population percentages. An example of a population percent is: “70% of the country’s income is controlled by 20% of that country’s residents” (Root). According to Dobbs, income inequality “until now, has largely focused on income and wealth gains going disproportionately to top earners” (Dobbs). In the past income inequality revolved around the idea of a big, bad upper class, or the evil man on Wall Street. In this light, it seemed that income inequalities only affected a small population the America’s
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