SOC101Y1 : master lec soc 203 .doc
Document Summary
Toqueville: an aristocrat looked back with nostalgia upon the achievements of the aristocratic society that preceded the french revolution. Marx: physical suffering, not emphasized with toqueville. Toquevile: concerned about the atomization of society under conditions of increasing inequality. Atomized individuals: less of a connection with society. They are more tightly bound in our society than in past societies. Toqueville has little to say about class but a lot to say about status. The effects of status in the way people understand themselves and interact with others. A political tract, written for a mass audience. Gets reader to believe radical change is on the way. Persistent over all of europe, king held power. Most people still peasants (less so in britain). Britain, aristocrats still constitute the wealthiest class. In great britain, the middle class was at most 2. 5% of the population. Proletariat, still minute in great britain, perhaps 4%: rapid growth.
