“Among the laws that rule human societies there is one which seems to be more precise and clear than all others: if men are to remain civilized or to become so, the art of associating together must grow and improve in the same ratio in which the equality of conditions is increased.”Alexis de Tocqueville · Despre democrația în America · 1840 · Despre democrația în America, volumul II, partea a II-a, capitolul V
As people grow more equal, they must grow more associated.
Equality individualizes: each person becomes small, weak and dependent, and an isolated individual cannot resist an ever-stronger central power. Voluntary associations — unions, neighborhood groups, clubs, foundations — are the school where citizens learn to act together and counterbalance the state. A community with no civic organization stays helpless before bureaucracy, however equal it may be.
Tocqueville saw association not merely as a shield against the state, but as a skill that must be learned. Anyone organizing a neighborhood fair learns to negotiate, divide tasks, and accept decisions they don't fully like. Those habits then carry over into work, family, and voting. Without that practice, equality only produces millions of similar people unable to act together. The next question: what happens when people hand all collective action over to the state alone?
Why it matters An argument for volunteering and civic organizing: democracy survives not only through voting but through association.