Religion, Womanhood, and Democratic Conditions in Tocqueville

Abstract

Alexis de Tocqueville is famous as a theorist of associations, but our current account of associationalism overlooks the relationship between religion and womanhood in Tocqueville’s thought. Previously, these themes have been studied in isolation, and the interplay of religion, womanhood, and democratic conditions has been neglected. Offering a new perspective, this article finds commonalities between religion and womanhood in Tocqueville that elucidate both themes and our account of democratic associations more broadly. These major commonalities are the commonality of right conditions, the commonality of “the true notion of democratic progress,” and the commonality of moral cultivation. These commonalities organize our understanding of the links between religion and womanhood, while also illuminating the structure of two moderating forces that are considered “unique” and “special” in Tocqueville. Thus, this analysis offers a general logic behind Tocqueville’s most important tools for combatting democracy’s “defects,” a logic that will serve contemporary democracies.