Comment on Methodological individualism of Max Weber
- ''Methodological individualism'' (MI) refers to the explanatory and predictive strategies which give primacy to individual action in relation to social phenomena. Weber''s reason for advocating for MI derived from his view of action as purposive behavior, and his view that social outcomes need to be explained on the basis of the purposive actions of the individual actors who constitute them. So MI began with a presupposition about the unique importance of rational-intentional behavior in social life. Weber insisted on a rational actor foundation for the social sciences.
- Weber saw society as an aggregate of individuals rather than an ‘entity’. In this sense he is close to the social constructionists but he did not go as far as they do, as they suggest that society is itself a ‘social construction’. Therefore we should use methods which can examine aggregate behaviour. In The Protestant Ethic, he suggested that rational capitalism arose in part because of the behaviour of the Protestants, which had changed. The changing belief systems caused changes in the way that the Protestants worked, saved and spent their money. As they saved and spent their resources wisely they were able to accumulate capital which could then be invested in rational projects. This change in aggregate behaviour was one of the reasons behind the development of rational capitalism.
- The logical contrary of MI is the idea of social holism, most explicitly advocated by Emile Durkheim in Rules of Sociological Method. Holism is a form of anti-reductionism; it maintains that there are facts about the social world that do not reduce to facts about individuals. Society is autonomous with respect to the individuals who "make it up". There are social forces (e.g. systems of norms) that exercise causal power over individuals, instead of norms being constituted by the psychological states of individuals. Other varieties of social holism are possible as well.
- The major argument in favor of MI is the point that social facts are evidently constituted by the thoughts and behaviors of groups of individuals. Social movements are composed of individuals with specific psychologies and beliefs; organizations are composed of individuals; and, arguably, moralities and cultures are made up of individuals with specific beliefs and values. Second, there is the point that social "laws" are rare, exception-laden, and conditional; so there is a methodological reason to look for the more basic laws that may regulate social behavior -- at the level of individuals and their psychology.
Next
previous
Latest News
General Studies