Democracy Growing Up

Laura Janara

Description

Finalist for the 2004 C.B. Macpherson Prize presented by the Canadian Political Science Association
Winner of the Best First Book Award presented by the Foundations of Political Theory section of the American Political Science Association

Tocqueville's Democracy in America continues to be widely read, but for all this familiarity, the vivid imagery with which he conveys his ideas has been overlooked, left to act with unexamined force upon readers' imaginations. In this first sustained feminist reading of Democracy in America Laura Janara assesses the dramatic feminine, masculine, and infantile metaphorical figures that represent the historical political drama that is Tocqueville's primary topic. These tropes are analyzed as both historical artifacts and symbols for psychoanalytic interpretation, deepening and complicating the standing interpretations of Tocqueville's work. Democracy Growing Up comments critically upon the peculiar gendered and familial foundations of modern Western democracy and upon the notion of democratic maturity that Tocqueville offers us.

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

1. "THE KEY TO ALMOST THE WHOLE WORK"

French and U.S. Discourse
Interpreting Tocqueville's Imagery: A Psychoanalytic Framework
What Tocqueville Fears: Democracy's Three Potentialities
The Abyss
Interpreting Tocquevilles' Imagery: Tocqueville in History
Dinnerstein's Theory and Tocqueville's Democracy
Diagnosing the Democratic Psyche

2. GENEALOGY, BIRTH, AND GROWTH

Democracy in France: Urchin Orphan
Democracy in America: Wilderness Expecting
Saginaw: A Scarcely Formed Embryo
Mother England
Resisting the Mother: Democracy as Adolescent

3. ADOLESCENCE AND MATURITY

Adolescence
Manliness or Individualism?
Democracy in School
Passion for Equality's Charms
Religion, Mores, Morality: Female Bulwark for Maturity
Democratic Maturity?

4. HOMO PUER ROBUSTUS: PROPERTY, COMMERCE, INDUSTRY

The Impulse for Enterprise
Anxiety and Unsated Desire
Exploiting the Land, Fearing the Flesh, Ennobling Money
Money, Marriage, and Manly Citizenship
Middle Class Desire and the Stilling of Politics
Workers, Owners, and the Veil of Contract
The State as Parent

5. IMPOTENCE AND INFANTILISM

Hypermasculine Individualism
Public Opinion: Elle mène le monde
Female Administration: Male Government
The Guardian State
Infantilism and Impotence

6. DEMOCRACY'S FAMILY VALUES

Democracy as Self-Mastery: Fathers, Sons, and Brothers
Girls: Democracy's Shadow Figures
Fear and Desire: Containing the American Woman
Marriage and Sex: Resurrecting Order
Democracy's Gender and Family Foundations

CONCLUSION: FAMILY, GENDER, AND DEMOCRATIC MATURITY

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie politique
• Gender studies

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791488362
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

DEMOCRACY GROWINGUP

SUNY series in Political Theory: Contemporary Issues Philip Green, series editor

DEMOCRACY GROWINGUP AUTHORITY, AUTONOMY, AND PASSION IN TOCQUEVILLE’S DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

by

LAURA JANARA

S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

©2002 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without writ- ten permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For infor mation, address the State Univer sity of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Kelli Williams Marketing by Patrick Durocher

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Janara, Laura, 1966– Democracy growing up : authority, autonomy, and passion in Tocqueville’s Democracy in America / by Laura Janara. p. cm.—(SUNY series in political theory. Contemporary issues) Includes index. ISBN 0-7914-5441-X (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-7914-5442-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1.Tocqueville, Alexis de, 1805–1859. De la démocratie en Amérique. 2. United States—Politics and government. 3. United States—Social conditions—To 1865. 4. Autonomy (Psychology) 5. Gender identity. I.Title. II. Series.

JK216.T7193 J36 2002 320.973—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002017610

1

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Contents

CONTENTS

v

Acknowledgments.................................................................................ix

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................1

“THE KEY TO ALMOST THE WHOLE WORK” ..................................................9

French and U.S. Discourse .....................................................................12

Interpreting Tocqueville’s Imagery: A Psychoanalytic Framework .................19

What Tocqueville Fears: Democracy’s Three Potentialities ..........................27

The Abyss...........................................................................................30

Interpreting Tocqueville’s Imagery: Tocqueville in History ..........................33

Dinnerstein’s Theory and Tocqueville’s Democracy ....................................37

Diagnosing the Democratic Psyche .........................................................43

GENEALOGY, BIRTH, AND GROWTH ..........................................................47

Democracy in France: Urchin Orphan ......................................................48

Democracy in America: Wilderness Expecting ...........................................51

Saginaw: A Scarcely Formed Embryo ......................................................55

Mother England...................................................................................59

Resisting the Mother: Democracy as Adolescent ......................................65

v

3

4

5

6

vi

DEMOCRACY GROWING UP

ADOLESCENCE AND MATURITY ...............................................................69

Adolescence........................................................................................71

Manliness or Individualism?..................................................................75

Democracy in School............................................................................77

Passion for Equality’s Charms................................................................80

Religion, Mores, Morality: Female Bulwark for Maturity ............................85

Democratic Maturity?............................................................................91

H O M O P U E R R O B U S T U S : PROPERTY, COMMERCE, INDUSTRY .........................99

The Impulse for Enterprise ..................................................................102

Anxiety and Unsated Desire .................................................................104

Exploiting the Land, Fearing the Flesh, Ennobling Money ..........................108

Money, Marriage, and Manly Citizenship ................................................1 1 1

Middle Class Desire and the Stilling of Politics .......................................115

Workers, Owners, and the Veil of Contract..............................................117

The State as Parent ............................................................................125

IMPOTENCE AND INFANTILISM ..............................................................129

Hypermasculine Individualism ..............................................................130

Public Opinion: Elle mène le monde .....................................................133

Female Administration: Male Government ..............................................137

The Guardian State .............................................................................148

Infantilism and Impotence ...................................................................153

DEMOCRACY’S FAMILY VALUES..............................................................157

Democracy as SelfMastery: Fathers, Sons, and Brothers .........................163

CONTENTS

vii

Girls: Democracy’s Shadow Figures .......................................................169

Fear and Desire: Containing the American Woman...................................173

Marriage and Sex: Resurrecting Order ...................................................178

Democracy’s Gender and Family Foundations ..........................................181

CONCLUSION: FAMILY, GENDER, AND DEMOCRATIC MATURITY ....................185

Notes ...............................................................................................197

Bibliography......................................................................................229

Index ...............................................................................................239

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Acknowledgments

I AM GRATEFUL to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for doctoral fellowships, and to the Killam Trust at Dalhousie University for a postdoctoral fellowship: respectively, these funds facilitated my doctoral dissertation and this book that has grown out of it. Scholars at the University of Minnesota provided feedback on early chap- ter drafts: thanks to John Bies, Rob Giroux, Simona Goi, Catherine Guisan- Dickinson, Andrew Seligsohn, John Zumbrunnen, and my dear friend Paul Soper. I have also been fortunate to learn from James Farr and Terence Ball, especially a sensitivity to the role of language in politics, and to history and its evidence of the vast possibilities for human society. I hope these lessons are well-reflected in this book. Thank you as well to M.J. Maynes and Eileen Sivert, both of the University of Minnesota, for reflective criticism that has served me well. Also in Minnesota, my friends Rita Magnan and Alice Doll cared for me lovingly and showed faith in me during the dissertation writing phase. In Halifax, Elisabeth Gold’s care was indispensable. Louise Carbert and Katherine Fierlbeck provided fellowship during my postdoctoral tenure at Dalhousie University. Katherine, having earlier advised my Master’s thesis, has long since modeled for me scholarly excellence and independence; her support of my career is greatly appreciated. I also thank Susan Sherwin at Dalhousie for Master’s feminist theory courses that opened up a universe for which I’d been searching. Winifred Desjardins, my remarkable friend, performed the selfless feat of finding me an excellent apartment for my postdoctoral time in Halifax (this one complete with a garden, which proved to nourish my imagination).Along with the ocean, rocks, trees, and beaches of Nova Scotia,Winifred supported me in the myriad ways I needed for a happy postdoctoral experience.

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