Alexis de Tocqueville, the First Social Scientist

Jon Elster currently holds the position of Professor at the Chaire de Rationalité et Sciences Sociales, Collège de France. He previously held teaching positions at the University of Oslo, University of Chicago, and Columbia University. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Academie Europeae, and the Norwegian Academy of Science. He is also Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and Doctor honoris causa of the Universities of Valencia, Stockholm, and Trondheim. His numerous books include Explaining Social Behavior: More Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences (2007), Closing the Books: Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective (2004), and Alchemies of the Mind (1999).

• 1. Preference formation; 2. Belief formation; 3. Self-interest and individualism; 4. Passions; 5. Desires, opportunities, capacities; 6. Patterns of social causality; 7. Equality and mobility; 8. Democratic government; 9. Revolution.

'Elster's jeweler's eye has seen into the hidden intricacies and profundities of Tocqueville the political psychologist and comparative social historian. A sumptuous, stringent and path-breaking book.' Stephen Holmes, New York University School of Law