John Prideaux

speaker

643 appearances 3 recordings 1 series first heard Jun 2026 last heard 19 Jun

John Prideaux’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 3.

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The Intelligence from The Economist · Tocqueville Road Trip: 1. Game of chance · 13 Jun 2026 podcast

I'll look at the unique way in which Americans think about personal responsibility, and the ever present tension here between the forces which want things to remain the same and those driving rapid material progress.

I'll examine the arguments over free expression.

and take a close look at two forms of democratic tyranny.

both of which have become a rising concern in the Trump era.

And I'll start with the biggest and most important idea in the book.

When I think about democracy in 2026, the pictures that flash into my mind are of fundraising emails, campaign merch, political adverts, and opinion polls.

A system whose purpose is to get politicians elected.

But that isn't the first thing Tockville saw.

For him, democracy was a social revolution as much as a political one.

Just like the aristocratic society in which he had grown up, it was governed by powerful rules and norms which shaped everyone's behavior.

Only in America, the rules weren't about strictly enforced class hierarchies, they were about equality.

He noticed this in the fact that most rich people he met seemed once to have been poor, and

and in the voluntary associations which sprung up whenever a problem needed to be fixed.

He even noticed it in the friendly, informal way in which American parents talk to their children.

Equality of conditions everywhere.

In this series, I want to test Tocqueville's theories against the lives of modern day Americans.

Barbara, which seat would you be happiest in?

Very good.

Barbara Tober and her Rolodex made that Manhattan dinner party possible.

She's in her early nineties, with a wave of silver white hair and a welcoming manner.

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