Individualism Theories and Methods [Hardcover]

In recent years, the ability of holistic social theories to account for the rights, duties, and even reality of the individual, has been more and more often called into question. At the same time, interest in individualism in a variety of forms has been gaining ground, both as an object of study and as a methodology. This important collection brings together essays by eminent social scientists from several countries. They discuss the question of individualism from historical, methodological, hermeneutical, political, and sociological points of view and attempt to reconcile methodological individualism with the classical approach of sociological theory, based on collective identity. Together, the articles comprise a major contribution to a topical and widening debate.