Tocqueville saw that the life of constant action and decision which was entailed by the democratic and businesslike character of American life put a premium upon rough and ready habits of mind, quick decision, and the prompt seizure of opportunities - and that all this activity was not propitious for deliberation, elaboration, or precision in thought.

In 1942 Hofstadter earned his doctorate in history and in 1944 publiRichard Hofstadterd his dissertation Social Darwinism in American Thought 1860–1915 a pithy and commercially successful (200000 copies) critique of late nineteenth-century American capitalism and its ruthless "dog-eat-dog" economic competition and Social Darwinian self-justification. Early life and education
Richard Hofstadter was born in Buffalo New York in 1916 to a German American Lutheran mother Katherine (née Hill) and a Jewish father Emil A. His influence is ongoing as modern critics profess admiration for the grace of his writing and the depth of his insight.

Hofstadter the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University became the "iconic historian of postwar liberal consensus" largely due to his emphasis on ideas and political culture rather than the day-to-day doings of politicians. His influence is ongoing as modern critics profess admiration for the grace of his writing and the depth of his insight. His most important works are Social Darwinism in American Thought 1860–1915 (1944); The American Political Tradition (1948); The Age of Reform (1955); Anti-intellectualism in American Life (1963) and the essays collected in The Paranoid Style in American Politics (1964).