Democracy in America
Democracy in America
what does toqueville mean by more? who are the mores?
what does toqueville mean by more? who are the mores?
This is the only reference I can find for the word "mores" in the text. Is this the passage and central idea that you're questioning.
I have previously remarked that the manners of the people may be considered as one of the general causes to which the maintenance of a democratic republic in the United States is attributable. I here used the word manners with the meaning which the ancients attached to the word mores, for I apply it not only to manners in their proper sense of what constitutes the character of social intercourse, but I extend it to the various notions and opinions current among men, and to the mass of those ideas which constitute their character of mind. I comprise, therefore, under this term the whole moral and intellectual condition of a people. My intention is not to draw a picture of American manners, but simply to point out such features of them as are favorable to the maintenance of political institutions.
Democracy in America
The mores (pronounced more-Ays) are not a group of people. Mores are the essential, characteristic customs and conventions of a community i.e the habits, traditions, and practices of a certain people. Think of it in terms of the way of life is lived within society.