Download or read book Alexis de Tocqueville, the First Social Scientist written by Jon Elster and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-27 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguing that Tocqueville was fundamentally a social scientist rather than a political theorist, Elster emphasises Tocqueville's substantive and methodological insights.