Methodological Individualism Introduction and Founding Texts

• Main Author: Bulle, Nathalie
• Format: eBook Book
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Routledge 2024; Taylor & Francis
• Edition: 1
• Series: Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought
• Subjects: Carl Menger; explanation; founders; Georg Simmel; Individualism; Joseph Schumpeter; Max Weber; methodological debates; methodological individualism; methodological paradigm; Methodology; natural sciences; phenomenal world; Philosophy; Philosophy and Religion; Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects; Research and information: general; Research methods: general; social actions; social concepts; Social Science; social science methodology; social sciences; Social sciences > Methodology; Social Theory; social wholes; Society and culture: general; Society and Social Sciences; Sociology; Sociology and anthropology; theoretical bases; social actions; Max Weber; methodological individualism; sociology; social wholes; social concepts; founders; explanation; Carl Menger; social sciences; theoretical bases; natural sciences; methodological debates; Georg Simmel; social science methodology; methodological paradigm; phenomenal world; Joseph Schumpeter
• ISBN: 9781032582801; 1032627034; 9781032627038; 1032582804; 1032627026; 9781040016459; 9781032627021; 9781040016510; 1040016510; 1040016456
• DOI: 10.4324/9781032627021

Originating in the late 19th century and becoming the subject of ongoing methodological debates in the social sciences, methodological individualism is a paradigm that focuses on understanding social phenomena through the actions and choices of individuals rather than through collective explanations. This book highlights its theoretical bases as defined and developed in the writings of its founders and early proponents in the context of the liveliest methodological battles in the social sciences. It addresses fundamental epistemological issues, including the distinction between explanation in the social sciences and natural sciences, the rational bases for understanding social actions, the relation of social wholes to their parts, and the connections between social concepts and the phenomenal world. Bringing together new English translations of foundational texts by Carl Menger, Joseph Schumpeter, Georg Simmel, and Max Weber, this book provides key insights into one of the essential methodological paradigms in the social sciences, corrects misconceptions, and advances a deeper understanding of methodological individualism as a robust and valuable approach to explaining social phenomena. It will therefore appeal to scholars and students of sociology and sociological theory with an interest in questions of social science methodology.