ABSTRACT
Individualism has become so prevalent in talk among modern people that many will be surprised to learn that the word is of relatively recent vintage – not much earlier than the 1830s when the great French social thinker and observer of American life gave the word a still-cogent meaning:
Individualism is a novel expression, to which a novel idea has given birth. Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his fellow-creatures, and to draw apart with his family and friends.
