On change and human nature in alexis de tocqueville's 'the old regime and the revolution' - a commentary

• Author: Stefan Ungurean
• Position: Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 105-114

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 7 (56) No. 2 - 2014

ON CHANGE AND HUMAN NATURE IN

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE’S “THE OLD

REGIME AND THE REVOLUTION” –

A COMMENTARY

Ştefan UNGUREAN1

Abstract: The current study addresses two issues. Firstly, it tries to identify

the causalities and conditionalities illustrated by Tocqueville’s analysis of

the French Revolution, by comparing the French a nd English societies.

Secondly, it purports to describe the specific forms of subjectivity under the

Old Regime, during the French Revolution and in post-revolutionary France,

laying the foundations for what so ciology would later conceptualize as

methodological individualism. Tocqueville tri es to capture the logic of social

systems during periods of societal production and reproduction by closely

looking at the inner world of the social actors, be they individuals or groups,

this act of production manifests itself in. Discovering concepts of social

psychology and the sociology of emotions within his discourse makes a

lecture of Tocqueville’s work even more relevant .

Key words: empiricism, apriorism, technocracy, despotism, centralization,

hate, resentment.

1 Faculty of Sociology and Communication, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. Justifying the choice of topic

Those familiar with Tocqueville’s work

point out that his discourse is a constant

juxtaposition of multiple voices, of

multiple idioms. The excellent study of

Aurelian Craiutu Tocqueville’s

Paradoxical Moderation [3] is just one

instance of the intense academic research

addressing Tocqueville’s writings, each

note or letter signed by the illustrious

French thinker being a subject for renewed

debate and controversy. Foucault defines

this phenomenon as the authorial function,

namely “that which transgresses the

contradictions arising within a series of

writings” [5, p.46].

The author’s intention is to approach

Tocqueville’s work from a sociological

perspective and not from the perspective of

political theory. This study will therefore

focus on the way The Old Regime and the

Revolution produces new ideas which can

be used to outline a theory of social action.

It will not endeavor to define the signifier,

instead it will attempt, in a deleuzian

manner, to se e his “writing as a non-

signifying machine, the only question being

whether it functions, and if it does, how it

functions” [4, p.15].

2. References in the analysis of change

Theoretically speaking, social change