Individualism in Modern Thought From Adam Smith to Hayek Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought Series

This book is a comprehensive survey of methodological individualism in social, political and economic thought from the Enlightenment to the 20th century. Exploring the works of such figures as de Mandeville, Smith, Marx, Spencer, Durkheim, Simmel, Weber, Hayek, Popper and Parsons, this study underlines the contrasts between methodological collectivism and methodological individualism. The detailed analysis offered here also reveals the theoretical presuppositions behind the collectivist and individualist traditions and the practical consequences of their applications. Infantino concludes in favour of individualism.

Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Bernard De Mandeville and Adam Smith; Chapter 3 Which Method?; Chapter 4 Durkheim and the Application of the Collectivistic Method; Chapter 5 Is an ‘Individualistic’ Reading of Durkheim Possible?; Chapter 6 Economists and Sociologists Compared; Chapter 7 The Early Parsons; Chapter 8 Conclusions;

Postgraduate

Lorenzo Infantino is Professor of Sociology at Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali, Rome.