POLI4932 · Political Science
Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences
By department permission only for Political Science Honors Program Students. Students who have taken POLI7726 may not take this course.Honors Seminar: Democracy in America. This course uses the greatest book on American politics, Tocqueville's Democracy in America, as a guide for studying perennial issues in American politics. We will read Democracy in America in conjunction with contemporary studies that address such key themes as individualism and "self interest rightly understood," law and mores, tyranny of the majority and "soft despotism," and local government and the art of association. Some of these recent works build upon Tocqueville's insights. Others claim that the contemporary U.S. bears little resemblance to Tocqueville's America.
Course experience
Averages use the original five-point historical evaluation scale.
Organization
4.6 / 5
How well the course was organized
Challenge
4.8 / 5
How intellectually challenging students found it
Attendance
4.9 / 5
How necessary attendance was
Assignments
4.5 / 5
How helpful assignments were
Weekly effort
~4
hours per week
Estimated from the original workload response buckets. Individual sections may differ.
Instructor options
Ratings below reflect only recovered evaluations connected to this course.
Across time
Section-level results available in the recovered archive.
Spring 2025
1 sectionSpring 2023
1 section