Tocqueville/Individualism Blog #1

The content I felt connected to the most this past week was information on Tocqueville. I was a little confused at some of the ideas at first, but reading further my best understanding was about individualism. This term is somewhat new and needs to be differentiated from "ego." Ego is about the love of self that leads a person to prefer himself to all. Egoism is thought to be a part of human nature that is to some extent embedded in all of us. On the other hand individualism is something that comes about and changes along with societal conditions. Actions we take are based off of feelings rather than instinct. Individualism is when people isolate themselves from the masses and in a way is okay with having members of society fend for themselves. This has greater sociological consequences on our society because people have little contact with others outside their intimate groups. This becomes an action rather than just feelings associated with egoism, and therefore causes more material costs on our society. For example, our society has moved more from an aristoracy to a democracy. Tocqueville seemed to favor aristocracy because it was a time when it seemed people were more willing to help others around them and think less of themselves. People would make sacrifices for certain other people. Yet now in the democratic age it seems individualism plays a bigger role and may have an adverse effect on our society. Help between citizens is lost and causes people to be stuck in solitude that could be self-destructive.

I agree with Tocqueville in the sense that individualism might have an adverse affect on society. One thing that struck me was that people withdrawing from society and cutting off those social ties can take a toll on a person physically and emotionally. Physically if someone were in need of any sort of assistance they may not ask for help or have anyone to turn to. Emotionally I would think withdrawing from society could contribute to depression and perhaps increased rates of suicide. I think its important to have social ties and experiences and that individualism takes away from that. Like we talked about in class, I do think that democracy has matured and that individualism still applies to some people but not so much the majority anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUGEqjWYkSY

Above is a short youtube link on Tocqueville and some of his ideas. It talks about at the end how individualism causes people to be more focused on themselves; notice the sign held up reading "Me Me Me!" It shows that he'd think people should become more involved and educated in order for society and our country to run smoothly. Society must escape destruction by keeping all sorts of ties (political, moral, etc) strong among its citizens.