If there is a majority, it is a majority, and proportional representation will not make it less so although it may correct some overrepresentation of the majority.
The majority of voters in Northern Ireland since has always been Protestant; the population votes almost entirely along religious lines; therefore any fairly elected Northern Ireland assembly must have a Protestant majority. The main danger that worried Aristotle, Madison, and Mill alike was that the majority poor citizenry would vote for confiscatory legislation at the expense of the rich minority.
For whatever reason, this has never happened. At least we can be confident that the majority will not expropriate the median voter. Subjects: Social sciences — Politics. View all related items in Oxford Reference ». Search for: 'tyranny of the majority' in Oxford Reference ». All Rights Reserved.
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Oxford Reference. Publications Pages Publications Pages. Recently viewed 0 Save Search. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Volume One describes and analyzes American conditions and political institutions, while Volume Two examines the effect of American democracy on what we would call culture literature, economics, the family, religion, etc. Unlike most of the others, however, the book Tocqueville wrote has proved over the years to be a lasting source of information and insight into both America and democracy.
Democracy in America is now widely studied in America universities, and it has been quoted by Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, and Congressmen. It was in this period that the United States first surpassed Europe in per capita income. The current popularity of Democracy in America in the United States might have surprised Tocqueville himself, because he wrote the book primarily for a French audience. The first volume was published forty-six years after the French Revolution.
As Tocqueville points out in the Introduction, many leading Frenchmen were unwilling to accept that equality had come to stay: looking to the past with regret some foolishly ignored the fundamental changes taking place around them; others found themselves caught in various unnatural and unhealthy moral and political confusions.
It was first and foremost for such people that Tocqueville wrote the book. In so doing, however, he gave the world its richest, most various, and deepest reflection on democracy. But why was Tocqueville so certain that democracy was inevitable and irresistible? According to Tocqueville, the power of the majority arises from the fact that in a democracy every individual is, politically, the equal of every other individual. In this situation, the greatest power will always be the largest number of individuals who combine their strength to act together: normally, a majority.
In monarchial societies, the majority has little or no power but independent centers of power such as the aristocracy, the church, and the rising merchant class can resist and even oppose each other and whoever rules. In a monarchy, for example, the majority would be made up of peasants; their opinions are of little consequence and they cannot impose their will because the king may be wealthier than all of them put together.
In an aristocracy, the nobles may consists of well-trained soldiers, whereas the peasants are unarmed: in this situation, no one group, not even a majority, can easily impose its will. Other bodies that have an independent political existence in nondemocratic societies might be the church or towns or even occupational guilds. Such groups do exist in democracies, but they do not have an independent political position. There are, for example, no seats in the United States Senate reserved for representatives of the church.
He does not mean that the majority in a democracy always does act tyrannically, only that nothing can prevent it from so doing. He further argues that tendency to accept the rightness of majority opinion has negative long-term consequences on national character and culture. Use the following activities and worksheets to help students understand what specific developments and events in history contribute to the advancement of greater equality in society and which ones Tocqueville regarded as most important.
Have the students read pp. Each student should draw up a numbered list of the different things that Tocqueville says contribute to equality in society Link to Equality Worksheet. They should also define the following words: generative, clergy, Providence, enlightenment, feudal, haphazardly, arsenal Link to Definitions Worksheet. The class can have two, or if there is time, three parts.
The most important part is the second activity below and the most time should be spent on it. Have a student read out loud the first three paragraphs of the Introduction. Follow this with a brief discussion of this passage, beginning with the question, what is it about America that most impressed Tocqueville?
But he does describe in broad strokes how important it is, and the students should get some appreciation of this. In every constitutional democracy, there is ongoing tension between the contradictory factors of majority rule and minority rights. Therefore, public officials in the institutions of representative government must make authoritative decisions about two questions.
When, and under what conditions, should the rule of the majority be curtailed in order to protect the rights of the minority?
And, conversely, when, and under what conditions, must the rights of the minority be restrained in order to prevent the subversion of majority rule? These questions are answered on a case-by-case basis in every constitutional democracy in such a way that neither majority rule nor minority rights suffer permanent or irreparable damage.
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