democracy (not capitalism) leads to individualism

I just heard an interview with Hugh Brogan on the Mars Hill Audio Journal where an author was describing deTocqueville's views on democracy, markets, and equality.

He notes that social hierarchy has the advantage of clearly communicating expectations within the community. Democracy promotes equality-- but also individualism-- by removing the hierarchy and the expectations.

So, this implicitly deflects blame from free markets, which are often blamed for individualism.

Interestingly, markets often foster more social interaction-- competition between sellers, competition between buyers, and largely, cooperation between buyers and sellers.