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Methodological Individualism and Holism in Political Science: A Reconciliation

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  • LIST, CHRISTIAN
  • SPIEKERMANN, KAI

Abstract

Political science is divided between methodological individualists, who seek to explain political phenomena by reference to individuals and their interactions, and holists (or nonreductionists), who consider some higher-level social entities or properties such as states, institutions, or cultures ontologically or causally significant. We propose a reconciliation between these two perspectives, building on related work in philosophy. After laying out a taxonomy of different variants of each view, we observe that (i) although political phenomena result from underlying individual attitudes and behavior, individual-level descriptions do not always capture all explanatorily salient properties, and (ii) nonreductionistic explanations are mandated when social regularities are robust to changes in their individual-level realization. We characterize the dividing line between phenomena requiring nonreductionistic explanation and phenomena permitting individualistic explanation and give examples from the study of ethnic conflicts, social-network theory, and international-relations theory.

Suggested Citation

  • List, Christian & Spiekermann, Kai, 2013. "Methodological Individualism and Holism in Political Science: A Reconciliation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 107(4), pages 629-643, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:107:y:2013:i:04:p:629-643_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Ylikoski, Petri, 2017. "Methodological Individualism," SocArXiv uwtfv, Center for Open Science.
    2. repec:hal:wpaper:halshs-01249632 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Hallvard Sandven, 2020. "Systemic domination, social institutions and the coalition problem," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 19(4), pages 382-402, November.
    4. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-01249632 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Miguel Alzola, 2023. "Conceptions of the Firm and Corporate Allegiances," Humanistic Management Journal, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 201-216, August.
    6. Dietrich, Franz & List, Christian, 2016. "Mentalism Versus Behaviourism In Economics: A Philosophy-Of-Science Perspective," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(2), pages 249-281, July.
    7. Stephanie Collins, 2019. "Collective Responsibility Gaps," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(4), pages 943-954, February.
    8. Reinhard Neck, 2021. "Methodological Individualism: Still a Useful Methodology for the Social Sciences?," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 49(4), pages 349-361, December.
    9. Joshua D. Kertzer, 2017. "Microfoundations in international relations," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 34(1), pages 81-97, January.

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