Jon Elster, Alexis de Tocqueville. The First Social Scientist

Abstract

Will we ever speak about Elster’s Tocqueville as we are used to speak about Skidelsky’s Keynes, Winch’s Smith, Hollander’s Ricardo or … Elster’s Marx? Following his lifelong research, Jon Elster presents in this book the political and social thinker that he regards not only as his predecessor, but also, as the title of the book indicates, as the first social scientist: Alexis de Tocqueville. Elster recognizes how contestable this claim of being the first, and particularly, the first social sc...