A renewed scholarly interest in the social foundations of democratic societies provides an opportunity to examine complementary lines of analysis in the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville and Max Weber. Comparative studies of their reflections typically rely upon a detailed consideration of Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and Weber’s writings on the sociology of religion. This strategy has provided a basis for concluding that Tocqueville developed an interest-based theory of politics that contrasts with Weber’s emphasis on the role of values as essential for motivating politically relevant action and legitimating states. I will argue that a more comprehensive perspective on their intellectual positions requires taking into account their assessment of social structures within which ideal and material interests are embedded. My conclusion that Tocqueville and Weber shared an intellectual focus on social structures and how those structures may impede as well as facilitate democracy is drawn from an analysis of Tocqueville’s The Old Regime and the Revolution and selected political writings of Weber.
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