Methodological Individualism

The central postulate of sociology is that coexistence among people generates a series of norms which determine behavior. Although the products of social interaction, these norms have considerable autonomy in relation to particular individuals and exercise a constant pressure on them. The discovery of these norms and their importance by the anti-individualist tradition led Schumpeter to write that “in sociology one does not go very far with individualism.” More recently, Boudon has observed that methodological individualism, “which, after Adam Smith, was so readily accepted in economics, has met considerable resistance in sociology.” Nisbet, however, may have gone too far in claiming that the whole sociological tradition is based on the “revolt against individualism.”

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