Aristocracy in Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville is probably the best modern writer on the subject of democracy, and certainly the most quoted. But when Tocqueville writes about democracy, he never considers it in isolation. There is always a weight on the other side of the scales, even if it is invisible to the casual observer: aristocracy. Relatively little attention has been given to Tocqueville's understanding of aristocracy, or to his views about how aristocratie elements contribute to democratic society. Yet Tocqueville's conception of aristocracy is crucial to how he analyzes democracy, and his understanding of the nature of aristocracy is central to his work.