‘The Individual, Comparison between Durkheims and Webers view

Sadeq Peivasteh¹

1) PHD student and Invited lecturer, Iran, Tehran, Allameh Tabatabaei University, Email:

IOI Code : XYDF-AGCEH
Publication : International Conference on Approach in Humanities(mahconf.com)
Abstract :
    This paper compares Emile Durkheims and Max Webers view about the individual. Interpreters and commentators of classical sociologists usually throw these two thinkers to a dualism of individual or social base of analysis. Its used to say Durkheims unit of analysis is society but Webers is the individual. Here we try to clear the meaning of he individual for both of them from surfing all of their writings, deleting the repetitions, categorizing the gist of their meanings, then, comparing them. This paper tried to say that the dualism between the individual and the social like agency/structure although is one of the most important dilemmas in social sciences, Classical sociologists, with their difference methodological approaches faced to this problematic differently. But it seems that every classical sociologist such as Durkheim and Weber tried to move beyond this dualism. Finally, this paper tried to show the key propositions of Weber and Durkheim is about the society/the individual relations mentioning these propositions and show the synthesis between individual/social explanations.

Keywords : "the individual/the social" "weber" "durkheim" "agency/structure"