Alexis de Tocqueville wrote:

   Egoism is a passionate and exaggerated love of self which leads a
   man to think of all things in terms of himself and to prefer
   himself to all.

   Individualism is a calm and considered feeling which disposes each 
   citizen to isolate himself from the mass of his fellows and
   withdraw into the circle of family and friends; with this little
   society formed to his taste, he gladly leaves the greater society
   to look after itself.

   Egoism springs from blind instinct; individualism is based on
   misguided  judgment rather than depraved feeling. It is due more
   to inadequate understanding than to perversity of heart.

   Egoism sterilizes the seeds of every virtue; individualism at
   first only dams the spring of public virtues, but in the long run
   it attacks and destroys all the others too and finally merges in
   egoism.

   Each citizen of an aristocratic society has his fixed station, one
   above another, so that there is always someone above him whose
   protection he needs and someone below him whose help he may require.

   So people living in an aristocratic age are almost always closely 
   involved with something outside themselves, and they are often
   inclined  to forget about themselves. It is true that in these ages
   the general  conception of *human fellowship* is dim and that men
   hardly ever think of  devoting themselves to the cause of humanity,
   but men do often make sacrifices for the sake of other men.

   In democratic ages, on the contrary, the duties of each to all are
   much clearer but devoted service to any individual much rarer...

   Among democratic peoples new families continually rise from nothing
   while others fall, and nobody's position is quite stable. The woof
   of time is ever being broken and the track of past generations lost.
   Those who have  gone before are easily forgotten, and no one gives a
   thought to those who will follow. All a man's interests are limited
   to those near himself.

   Aristocracy links everybody, from peasant to king, in one long chain. 
   Democracy breaks the chain and frees each link.

[paragraph omitted]

   Thus, not only does democracy make men forget their ancestors, but
   also clouds their view of their descendants and isolates them from
   their contemporaries. Each man is forever thrown back on himself
   alone, and there is danger that he may be shut up in the solitude 
   of his own heart.

END TOCQUEVILLE

I think we can substitute "capitalism" for "democracy" -- hence 
"aristocracy" becomes "feudalism."  Tocqueville goes on to describe how 
Americans fight the isolating tendencies of individualism through 
participation in "free institutions" -- civil, political, journalistic. 

He then follows up on the idea mentioned above that individualism is more 
the result of misunderstanding one's true interests than a basic 
perversity of human nature. In the chapter, "How the Americans combat 
individualism by the doctrine of self-interest properly understood," he 
writes the following:

"The doctrine of self-interest properly understood does not inspire great 
sacrifices, but every day it prompts some small ones; by itself it cannot 
make a man virtuous, but its discipline shapes a lot of orderly, 
temperate, moderate, careful and self-controlled citizens. If it does 
not lead the will directly to virtue, it establishes habits which 
unconsciously turn it that way. "

Tocqueville goes on to point out that self-interest properly understood 
is not self-evident and that people must be educated into it, since the 
main force of individualism constantly obscures it with a false 
understanding of self-interest. 

How this connects with capitalism is something I will offer a few 
comments on in a post which will follow this one.


Joe, who notes that Tocqueville feared that the United States greatest 
danger was administrative despotism -- a "soft" tyranny of bureaucracy 
brought about by the the individualist tendency to withdraw from public 
life and leave everything to administrators. The picture he draws in the 
last chapter is remarkably like what we have today. One more quote from 
Tocqueville:

  "Our contemporaries are ever a prey to to two conflicting passions:
   they feel the need for guidance, and they long to stay free. Unable
   to wipe out these two contradictory instincts, they try to satisfy
   them both together. Their imagination conceives a government which is
   unitary, protective, and all-powerful, but elected by the people.
   Centralization is combined with sovereignty of the people. That gives
   them a chance to relax. They console themselves for being under
   schoolmasters by thinking they have chosen them themselves. Each
   individual lets them put the collar on, for he sees that it is not a
   person, or a class of persons, but society itself which holds the end
   of the chain.

  "Under this system the citizens quit their state of dependence just
   long enough to choose their masters and fall back into it."

--Joe Sartelle