The Palgrave Handbook of Methodological Individualism : Volume II

While methodological individualism is a fundamental approach within the social sciences, it is often misunderstood. This highlights the need for a discursive and up-to-date reference work analyzing this approach’s classic arguments and assumptions in the light of contemporary issues in sociology, economics and philosophy. This two-volume handbook presents the first comprehensive overview of methodological individualism. Chapters discuss historical and contemporary debates surrounding this central approach within the social sciences, as well as cutting edge developments related to the individualist tradition with philosophical and scientific implications. Bringing together multiple contributions from the world’s leading experts on this important tradition of theorizing, this collective endeavor provides teachers, researchers and students in sociology, economics, and philosophy with a reliable and critical understanding of the founding principles, key thinkers and intellectual development of MI since the late 19th century. Contents Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Methodological Individualism and Key Research Fields in the Social Sciences and Humanities Collective Intentionality and Methodological Individualism 1 Introduction 2 Methodological Individualism 3 Collective Intentionality 4 The Reductionist Perspective 5 Searle's Proposal: Irreducibility and Individualism 6 Collective Subjects Group Minds Plural Subjects 7 The Relational Alternative 8 Conclusion References Methodological Individualism and Collective Representations 1 The Three Basic Ideas of Methodological Individualism 2 Institutions, Collective Representations, and Methodological Individualism 3 Economic Reductionism 4 Psychological Reductionism 5 How Are Social Norms, Emotions, and Rationality Interconnected? 6 Conclusion References Kelsen: Methodological Individualism in the Social Theory of Law 1 Introduction: The Problem of Law and the State 2 Kelsen on Law and the Individual 3 From Law to “Society” 4 The Idea of Community 5 The Problem of Description 6 Unity 7 The Individual and Primitive Law 8 Law and Norms Without a Group Mind References Methodological Individualism and the Foundations of the “Law and Economics” Movement 1 Introduction 2 Law and Economics: The Origins at Chicago 3 Ronald Coase: From Old to New Law and Economics 4 Law as an Incentive Toward Social Optimum: The Birth of an Economic Analysis of Law 5 William Landes and Richard Posner: Toward an Economic Analysis of Law 6 Heterodox Economic Analysis of Law: Calabresi 7 Conclusion References Methodological Individualism and Social Change 1 The Problem Methodological Individualism and Its Logic of Explanation The Concept of “Social Change” Evolutionary Theories of Social Change The Functionalist Theory of Social Change Individualistic Theories of Social Change 2 Result References Applying Methodological Individualism in the Analysis of Religious Phenomena 1 Introduction 2 The Supremacy of Sociological Determinism in the Analysis of Beliefs 3 MI and Explanation of the Religious Phenomenon Religion as a Moral Universe: Alexis De Tocqueville Beyond Communitarianism: Emile Durkheim Religion as a Reorganization of the World and as an Inner Experience: Max Weber The Relational Dimension in the Individualistic Approach of the Religious 4 Conclusion References Immigration, Identity Building and Multiculturalism: A Methodological Individualism Approach 1 Social Circles and Cognitive Attractor 2 Social Networks: Potential for Informal Social Relations 3 Immigrants’ Strong Reasons 4 The Social Action Located 5 Circular Causality Between Microsociological and Macrosociological Dimensions 6 Multiculturalism, Universalism and Citizenship 7 Conclusion References Individualistic Models in Collective Norm-Based Regulation: The Positive, Normative and Hermeneutic Dimensions 1 Introduction 2 Norm-Based Order and the Challenge of Individual Reasons The Individual and the Collective in Norm-Based Regulatory Action Hermeneutic Capacities, Problem–solution Pairs and Methodological Individualism Collectively Chosen Assumptions 3 The Individualistic Approach to responsibility and the Use of Models or Representations From Prediction to Prescription Responsibility Issues: The Cognitive and the Extracognitive Commitment to Using Norms and Some Challenges of Interpretation Individual Reasons, Collective Capacities and Responsibility in the Face of Risks 4 Conclusion References Analytical Tools and Exemplar Case Studies Examples of Sociological Explanation in Terms of Methodological Individualism 1 Introduction: The Sociological Object 2 The Structure of Explanation in Methodological Individualism 3 Why Athens’ Allies Defected in the Peloponnesian War?: Thucydides 4 When Does Social Organization Aim at Eliminating Unintended Effects?: James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock 5 Why Does the Unanimity Rule Often Prevail in Traditional Village Societies?: Samuel Popkin 6 Why Do Members of an Unorganized Group Tend to Defect?: Mancur Olson 7 Why Are Collective Powers often Governed by the Iron Law of Oligarchy?: Robert Michels 8 Why Did Capitalist Agriculture Develop Much More Slowly in France Than in England in the Eighteenth Century?: Alexis De Tocqueville 9 Why Has the Immoral Character of Interest Lending Disappeared in Modern Societies?: Karl Mannheim 10 Why There is no Socialism in the United States?: Werner Sombart 11 Why Do Economic Booms Seem to Be Associated with Higher Suicide Rates?: Emile Durkheim 12 Why Does the Diffusion of an Innovation Follow a Chain Reaction Process in Situations Where Interpersonal Influence is Higher?: James Coleman & al. 13 Why Were Mithra Cult and Freemasonry, Respectively, Successful in Ancient Rome and Modern Prussia?: Max Weber 14 Why, in Ancient Rome, Were the Peasants Hostile to Monotheism?: Max Weber 15 Why Did French Intellectuals of the Late Eighteenth-Century Worship Reason?: Alexis De Tocqueville 16 Why Did Indian Peasants not Adopt the Birth Control Measures Advocated by the Indian Administration?: Peter Berger 17 Why Do Conflicts Between Employees in a Taylor-Based Firm Tend to Be More Violent?: Charles Wright Mills References Collective Action 1 Methodological Individualism and the Theory of Collective Action 2 Other Theories of Collective Action 3 Mobilization for Collective Action 4 Participation in Collective Action 5 Conclusion References Methodological Individualism in Weber’s Sociology of Religion 1 Irrationality and Predestination 2 Rational Choice and Religion 3 Value Rationality 4 Instrumental Rationality 5 Collective Motivations 6 Peripheral Creativity 7 Particularity of Jewish Religion 8 The Prophets 9 Methodological Individualism and Functionalism 10 Motives for Religious Adherence 11 Instrumental Rationality in the Service of Religious Convictions 12 Spirituality and Devotion as Instrumental Rationality in the Service of Values 13 Conclusions Abbreviations and Bibliography Unintended Consequences 1 Introduction 2 Unintended Consequences in Theory Merton on Unintended Consequences Bastiat on the Unseen Mises on Interventionism Extending Mises: Some Contributions of Hayek, Rothbard, Kirzner, Ikeda, and Bylund 3 Unintended Consequences in Practice: Domestic Interventions Minimum Wages Driver Safety Regulations Drug Prohibition Intellectual Property 4 Unintended Consequences in Practice: International Humanitarian Action P. T. Bauer on the Poverty Trap and Foreign Aid Doing Bad by Doing Good 5 Conclusion References Individual Choice and Collective Identities 1 Locating the Problem 2 Identification of Violent Conflicts and Situations of Rapid Change 3 Structure and Agency 4 Structure and Agency in the History of Anthropology 5 The Relationship Between Emotions, Rationality and Hard Thinking 6 Purely a Matter of Choice? 7 The Information Economics of Identification 8 Shaping the Past 9 Conclusion References Understanding Religious Radicalization: The Enigma of Beneficial Violence 1 The Problem of Religion and Violence 2 The Case of Islamic Violence: Jihad 3 Definition of the Situation: The Thomas Theorem 4 Ethics of Responsibility or Ethics of Conviction 5 Islamic Canonical Prefigurations of Violent Actions: Ghazwa and Jihad; Ashura Ghazwa and Jihad Ashura 6 The Zeal of Phinehas: A Jewish and Christian Prefiguration 7 From the End of Religious Terrorism References Risk Takers or Rational Conformists: Extending Boudon’s Positional Theory to Understand Higher Education Choices in Contemporary China 1 Introduction 2 Theoretical Framework 3 Stratification of Higher Education and University Choices in Contemporary China 4 Methodology and Data 5 Findings University Choices and Rational Action Choices, Socioeconomic, Cultural and Academic Conformity Risks, Socioeconomic and Geographical Conformity 6 Discussion and Conclusion References Methodological Individualism and Formal Models 1 Introduction 2 Methodological Individualism and Formal Models: Some General Remarks 3 Group Size Effects on Collective Good Production in the Volunteer’s Dilemma 4 Deriving Micro-Level Theorems: Utility Theory 5 Deriving Theorems on Micro-to-Macro Relations: Social Choice Theory 6 The Small-World Problem 7 Continuous Versus Threshold Behavior in the Schelling Model 8 Self-Correcting Dynamics in Social Influence Processes 9 Conclusion References Controversial Issues Surrounding Methodological Individualism Holistic Bias in Sociology: Contemporary Trends 1 Introduction 2 Popper’s Critique of Historicism and Holism 3 Holism in Contemporary Sociology Sociology of Gender Sociology of Race and Ethnicity Environmental Sociology Self-Decolonization of Sociology 4 Conclusion References Methodological Individualism and Reductionism 1 Introduction 2 Psychological Reductionism 3 Collective Beliefs and Their Consequences 4 Semantic Reductionism 5 Individuals and Systems 6 Nominalism and Reductionism 7 Conclusion References Methodological Individualism Facing Recent Criticisms from Analytic Philosophy 1 The Post-Popperian and More Precisely Post-Watkinsian Tradition in the Analytic Philosophy of the Social Sciences 2 The Central Intention of the MI Tradition in Its Logically Primitive form (the Critical Vigilance Against the “Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness”) and in Its Derivative Form (the Individualizing Method) 3 Another Intention Mixed up with the Central Intention of MI: The Search for the Micro-sociological Basis of Statistical Correlations Observed at the Aggregate Level 4 Conclusion References Individualism-Holism Debate in the Social Sciences: Political Implications and Disciplinary Politics 1 Introduction 2 Form of the Debate 3 Political Values and (as) Argumentation 4 Social Holism as the Ideology of Corporate Capitalism 5 Disciplinary Politics 6 Conclusion Bibliography Economics: A Methodological Individualism in Search of Its Own Incompleteness 1 Incompleteness as the Endpoint of a “Closed” Individualism MI and Mainstream: A Co-construction 1870–1970 What is MI for Mainstream Economics? What Was Mainstream Economics (at the Threshold of the 1970s)? The Discovery of the Two Incompletenesses The First Incompleteness The Second Incompleteness 2 Incompleteness as a Starting Point for “Open” Individualism The Treatment of M-incompleteness by Hypertrophy of the “Closed” MI The Extension of the Field of Optimization The Consequences of a Hypertrophied MI Other (Non)treatments of Incompleteness: An Atrophied MI The Atrophy of the MI and Macroeconomic Theory (RBC, DSGE) Evolutionary/Behavioral Theory: Another Atrophy? Preliminary Reflections on the Joint Treatment of the Two Incompletenesses Voluntary Blindness to the Foundations Leads to a Flight to Empiricism The Limits of a Closed MI Are the Levers of an Open MI References Methodological Individualism in Terms of Rational-Choice and Frame-Selection Theory: A Critical Appraisal 1 Introduction 2 What is Methodological Individualism? 3 Historical–Sociological Explanation of a Social Fact: Max Weber’s Study on Ascetic Protestantism and the Spirit of Capitalism 4 Sociological Case Analysis: Diego Gambetta’s Study of the Sicilian Mafia 5 Conclusion References Interactionism and Methodological Individualism: Affinities and Critical Issues 1 Introduction 2 Interactionism and Methodological Individualism 3 Tackling a Common Criticism 4 The Core Ideas of Pragmatic Interactionism First Core Idea Empirical Example Second Core Idea Empirical Example Third Core Idea Empirical Example 5 Conclusion References Explaining Social Action by Embodied Cognition: From Methodological Cognitivism to Embodied Individualism 1 Starting Points 2 Overcoming the Weakness of Methodological Individualism: The Methodological Cognitivism 3 The Applied Successes of Methodological Cognitivism: Behavioral Economics and Nudge Theory 4 The Limiting Features of Representationalist Cognitivism 5 Embodied Cognition 6 The Embodied Dimension of Social Action 7 Conclusion: Why Embodied Individualism? References Methodological Individualism and its Critics: A Roundtable Discussion Methodological Individualism, Naive Reductionism, and Social Facts: A Discussion with Steven Lukes References Methodological Individualism and Institutional Individualism: A Discussion with Joseph Agassi References Methodological Individualism and Methodological Localism: A Discussion with Daniel Little References Methodological Individualism and Critical Realism: Questions for Margaret Archer References Author Index Subject Index