ABSTRACT
In very general terms, it is often assumed that sociology is profoundly hostile to individualism and liberalism, tending to collective perspectives or even collectivist responses to social issues. Within the French sociological tradition (connecting together the work of Claude Saint Simon, Auguste Comte, and Emile Durkheim), for example, there is often thought to be a complete opposition to the liberal-individualistic tradition of both classical Kantian philosophy and English economic theory. Indeed, it would not be difficult to find sources to support this notion, notably the attempt by Durkheimian sociology to destroy any individualistic assumptions in sociological theory. This attack on individualism appears to be most prominent in Durkheim’s treatise on suicide. Within the German philosophical and sociological tradition, there was also an antipathy to English economic individualism, especially in the work of Karl Marx, who regarded the utilitarian tradition of writers like Bentham and J.S.Mill as merely ideological legitimations of individualistic capitalism. By way of contrast, it is often claimed that Weber’s sociology was unambiguously committed to methodological individualism, providing a strong critique of collectivist concepts and the reification of concepts in sociology. The position is, however, seen as very much a minority one.
