Mill, like Madison, expressed concern over a “tyranny of the
majority.” However, where Madison’s worries focus more on the problems that
factions and political structures create, Mill focuses on the broad impact of the
will of the majority outside of government. In Federalist No. 10, Madison
outlines manners to guard against factions, which are inevitable due to the
nature of people who have different opinions and interests. For Madison, one of
the largest factors in the formation of factions was the difference in property
ownership and unequal distribution of wealth. He proposes a larger democracy/government as
opposed to a smaller government as a means to address the issues presented by
factions, arguing that a large republic would offer a larger variety of
interests and a majority would be harder to find and exert itself excessively over
others.
By Mill’s view, tyranny of the majority extends beyond that
which the structures of government can address because it is not necessarily a
political function, but rather a larger societal issue. He points out that it
is easier to protect against a tyrant or a tyrannical political structure than
it is to protect “against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling.”
He argues that people tend to align themselves for or against an issue and the
side that is larger may not necessarily be correct. He is also more focused on
the individual and proposes that an individual should only be subjected to the
power of a social/political majority is if he poses a threat/harm to others.
Mill's philosophy follows a idea substantiated by modern day science. Psychology in thinking and decision making has found an intense bias surrounding this notion of "Groupthink". Regardless of power hierarchies, people tend to follow and submit to a group mentality in order to prevent extradition or outcasting. Occasionally this occurs as a response to fear. For example: North Korea is known as a "Democratic People's Republic"--a communist society based on public sharing and arete. Nevertheless, the presence of concentration camps instills a broad fear that compels people in the government to follow King Jung Un's beliefs, essentially establishing a dictatorship. Mill follows up with this in "tyranny of the majority" by describing the flaws of democracy under the influence of Groupthink. Democracies are meant to vocalize the views of the people, not simply the majority. Groupthink and similar psychological biases prevent minorities to be heard and for governments to follow the rights and values upheld by their own policies.
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