Alexis de Tocqueville et l'économie sociale chrétienne: sociétés alimentaires et classes ouvrières

Alexis de Tocqueville and Christian* Social Economy: Good Companies and Working Classes This article introduces a little-known report : by Alexis de Tocqueville.: presented in 1855 at the International Charity Meeting concerning the company restaurant in Grenoble. The document brings to the fore the commitment to the cause of the Christian economists on the part of the theoretician of democracy, as well as his interest in social economy. By coming out in favour of the patronage of workers by the ruling classes, Tocqueville remained faithful to the position of the Christian economists regarding a mutual insurance system and proposed a practical system for food aid which historically half-way between philanthropy and worker associations, between money-saving ovens and consumer co-operatives.