Who is afraid of methodological individualism? An analysis of its implications for social theory

Abstract

Individualistic and holistic views have been opposing each other for a long time in social theory. This article aims to define clearly and to explore in some detail the theoretical implications of methodological individualism (MI), in order to argue that sociologists should accept it as an anti-metaphysical device. A first step is, therefore, to delimit precisely what are we referring to when we speak of MI: several possible meanings which have been usually associated to that term are reviewed and rejected as misleading ones. Next, some implications of MI for social theory are explored, namely which kind of explanations should be considered as legitimate ones, which kind of subjects should be regarded as real ones, the possibility of freedom, or the issue of reification and utopian thinking. Finally, some criticisms to MI are addressed, and it is discussed to what extent do they undermine the intelligibility and tenability of this assumption.