Social Research Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Home
Citation reference: Harvey, L., 2012-24, Social Research Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/socialresearch/
This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail suggestions for additions or amendments.
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Individualism
Individualism is a perspective that advocates the free action of individuals.
Individualism is therefore a persective that denies group solidarity and at its extreme is literally anti-social.
Individualism, in more general terms, is simply self-centeredness, as exhibited in conduct or feelings.
Individualism is at the root of free-market economic theories and of most conservative political doctrine, as for example in the British Conservative Party, especially as espoused by the Thatcher governments of the 1980s.
Zinn (2007) wrote:
Individualism emphasizes the importance of the individual, for example the individual's freedom, interests, rights, needs, or beliefs against the predominance of other institutions in regulating the individual's behavior, such as the state or the church. A range of theories in different societal domains contributes to the dissemination of individualistic ideas in society. In particular, economic and political liberalism are vehicles of individualism. The term individualism was introduced by de Tocqueville. Even though he distinguished individualism from egotism, his distinction is essentially one of degree, but individualism would in the long run lead to “downright egotism.”
This doctrine was introduced as a methodological precept for the social sciences by Max Weber, most importantly in the first chapter of Economy and Society (Weber, 1922). It amounts to the claim that social phenomena must be explained by showing how they result from individual actions, which in turn must be explained through reference to the intentional states that motivate the individual actors.
See also
Weber, M., [1922] 1968, Economy and Society, edited by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich, Berkeley, University of California Press.
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