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{{Short description|Method of analysis in social sciences}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}

In the [[social science]]s, '''methodological individualism''' is a method for explaining social phenomena strictly in terms of the decisions of individuals, each being moved by their own personal motivations. In contrast, explanations of [[social fact|social phenomena]] which assume that cause and effect acts upon whole classes or groups are deemed illusory, and thus rejected according to this approach. Or to put it another way, only group dynamics which can be explained in terms of individual subjective motivations are considered valid. With its bottom-up micro-level approach, methodological individualism is often contrasted with [[Holism in science|methodological holism]],<ref>Zahle, Julie, "Methodological Holism in the Social Sciences", ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (Winter 2021 ed.), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/holism-social/>.</ref> a top-down macro-level approach, and [[methodological pluralism]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Piana |first1=Valentino |title=Pluralism |url=http://www.economicswebinstitute.org/glossary/pluralism.htm |website=Economics Web Institute |access-date=7 April 2020 |date=2020}}</ref>

== History within the Social Sciences==
This framework was introduced as a foundational assumption within the social sciences by [[Max Weber]], and discussed in his book ''[[Economy and Society]]''.<ref>{{Citation|last=Heath|first=Joseph|title=Methodological Individualism|date=2020|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2020/entries/methodological-individualism/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Summer 2020|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2021-09-18}}</ref> Within later schools of economic thought, such as the [[Austrian School]], strict adherence to methodological individualism is considered a necessary starting principle. It draws heavily upon assumptions of [[neoclassical economics]], where social behavior is explained in terms of rational actors whose choices are constrained by prices and incomes, and where individuals' subjective preferences are treated as a given.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Stigler|first=George|author2=Gary Becker|title=De gustibus non est disputandum|journal=American Economic Review|date=Mar 1977|volume=67|issue=2|page=76|jstor=1807222}}</ref>

== Criticisms ==
Economist [[Mark Blaug]] has criticized over-reliance on methodological individualism in economics, saying that "it is helpful to note what methodological individualism strictly interpreted [...] would imply for economics. In effect, it would rule out all macroeconomic propositions that cannot be reduced to microeconomic ones [...] this amounts to saying goodbye to almost the whole of received macroeconomics. There must be something wrong with a methodological principle that has such devastating implications".<ref name=Blaug>{{cite book|last=Blaug|first=Mark|title=The Methodology of Economics: Or, How Economists Explain|year=1992|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-43678-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/methodologyofeco0056blau/page/45 45–46]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/methodologyofeco0056blau/page/45}}</ref>

Similarly, the economist [[Alan Kirman]] has critiqued [[general equilibrium theory]] and [[Neoclassical economics|modern economics]] for its "fundamentally individualistic approach to constructing economic models", and showed that an individualist [[competitive equilibrium]] is not necessarily stable or unique. However, stability and uniqueness can be achieved if aggregate variables are added, and as a result he argued "the idea that we should start at the level of the isolated individual is one which we may well have to abandon".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kirman |first1=Alan |title=The Intrinsic Limits of Modern Economic Theory: The Emperor has No Clothes |journal=The Economic Journal |date=1989 |volume=99 |issue=395 |pages=126–39 |doi=10.2307/2234075 |jstor=2234075 |hdl=1814/23029 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Holism in science|Methodological holism]]
*[[Methodological pluralism]]
*[[Austrian School]]
*[[Praxeology]]
*{{annotated link|Analytical Marxism}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite journal |author= Agassi, Joseph |author-link= Joseph Agassi |title= Methodological individualism |journal= The British Journal of Sociology |volume= 11 |issue = 3 |year= 1960 |pages= 244–70 |doi= 10.2307/586749 |jstor= 586749}}
* {{cite journal |author= Arrow, Kenneth J. |author-link= Kenneth Arrow |year= 1994 |title= Methodological Individualism and Social Knowledge |journal= American Economic Review |volume= 84 |issue= 2 |jstor= 2117792|pages=  1–9}}
* Kaushik Basu (2008), "Methodological Individualism", ''[[The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics]]'', 2nd ed., New York : Palgrave Macmillan {{ISBN|978-0-333-78676-5}} [http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_M000352&q=Methodological%20individualism&topicid=&result_number=1 Abstract.]
* Brian Epstein (2009), "Ontological Individualism Reconsidered", ''Synthese'' 166(1), pp.&nbsp;187–213.
* {{cite book |author= Hayek, F. A. |author-link= Friedrich A. Hayek |year= 1948 |title= Individualism and Economic Order |publisher= University of Chicago Press |url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.84003 |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}. {{ISBN|0-226-32093-6}}
* [[Geoffrey Hodgson]], (2007) "Meanings of Methodological Individualism", ''Journal of Economic Methodology'' 14(2), June, pp.&nbsp;211–26.
* Harold Kincaid (2008), "Individualism versus Holism," ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics'', 2nd ed., New York: Palgrave Macmillan {{ISBN|978-0-333-78676-5}} [http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_I000277&q=Methodological%20individualism&topicid=&result_number=2 Abstract.]
* {{cite journal |author= Lukes, Steven|author-link= Steven Lukes |year= 1968 |title= Methodological Individualism Reconsidered |journal= British Journal of Sociology |volume= 19 |issue= 2 |pages= 119–29 |doi= 10.2307/588689 |jstor= 588689}}
*{{cite book |author= Menger, Carl |author-link = Carl Menger |title= Problems of Economics and Sociology [Investigations into the Method of the Social Sciences with Special Reference to Economics] |editor= Schneider, Louis |translator= Nock, Francis J. |url=https://archive.org/details/problemsofeconom0000meng/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater |year= 1963 |publisher= University of Illinois Press |place= Urbana |url-access= registration |page= 93 |via= [[Internet Archive]]|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |author= Mises, Ludwig |author-link= Ludwig von Mises |chapter= The Principle of Methodological Individualism |title= Human Action: A Treatise on Economics - The Scholar's Edition |year= 1998 |publisher= Ludwig von Mises Institute |pages= [https://cdn.mises.org/files/2024-09/Human%20Action.pdf 41]-43 |isbn=9780865976313}} 
* {{cite book |author= Popper, Karl R. |author-link= Karl Popper |title= The Poverty of Historicism |place= London |edition= 2nd |publisher= Routledge & Kegan Paul |year=1960  |url= https://archive.org/details/povertyofhistori0000popp_u7u7/page/n1/mode/2up?view=theater |url-access= registration |pages= |via= [[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{cite journal |author= Schumpeter, Joseph |author-link= Joseph Schumpeter |date = February 1909 |title= On the Concept of Social Value |journal= Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=  23 |issue= 2 |doi= 10.2307/1882798 |pages= 213–32 |jstor=1882798}}
* Lars Udéhn (2002), "The Changing Face of Methodological Individualism", ''Annual Review of Sociology'', 28, pp.&nbsp;479–507.

==External links==
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[[Category:Reductionism]]
[[Category:Sociological theories]]
[[Category:Criticisms of economics]]
[[Category:Individualism]]
[[Category:Philosophy of social science]]