Miguel Anxo Bastos: Individualismo Metodológico vs. Colectivismo

Miguel Anxo Bastos analyzes the evolution of sociology and other social sciences, noting how they have become progressively interventionist, adopting ideologies such as socialism and prioritizing quantitative methods. He criticizes the prevalence of concepts like equality, equity, and social justice, which he considers to originate from illiberal spheres and promote increasingly interventionist causes. According to Bastos, this drift has led to a view where collective entities are reified as real, existing beings that act, a perspective fundamentally opposed to the methodology of the Austrian School. The speaker delves into the methodological pillars of the Austrian School as applied to sociology: methodological individualism and subjectivism. Bastos emphasizes that only individuals exist and act, dismantling the notion of collectives (classes, states) as entities with their own interests, and mentioning authors such as Menger, Georg Simmel, and Cornelius Castoriadis. Bastos also highlights the importance of subjectivism, as developed by Alfred Schultz, for understanding that values ​​and social phenomena are perceived subjectively, thus invalidating objectivist theories such as the Marxist theory of value. Finally, Bastos questions the increasing quantification and mathematization in the social sciences, arguing, along with Randall Collins and Alvin Gullner, that it is a "social ritual" and a barrier, not necessarily synonymous with rigor, and that it often imposes a deterministic worldview that the Austrian School rejects. 🔗 Link to the full conference:    • Miguel Anxo Bastos - Sociología libertaria   00:00 Introduction 00:00 Sociology and its interventionist evolution 01:00 David Marsland and the critique of sociology 02:05 The methodological debate in the social sciences 02:40 Methodological Individualism (Menger, Simmel) 03:32 Critique of collectivism: false entities 04:49 The "Imaginaries" of Cornelius Castoriadis 05:08 Method of the Austrian School: Individualism and Subjectivism 05:24 State intervention from an individualistic perspective 07:10 Relevance of methodological individualism today 08:04 Subjectivism and Alfred Schutz 08:41 Schultz: sociologist of the Austrian School 09:38 Subjectivity, intersubjectivity, and the vision of World 09:56 Social Inequality is Perceived 11:09 Critique of Social Quantification and Mathematization 11:46 Randall Collins and "Statistics of Words" 12:22 Mathematization as a Social Rite 13:16 Alvin Gullner: "The Anti-Minotaur" 14:05 Statistics as a Deterministic Theory ......... Help us continue and improve our work Become a member of the IJM: https://frapp.co/ngos/juandemariana/c... Become a member of the YouTube channel:    / @instjuandemariana   Make a donation: https://www.paypal.me/juandemariana Follow us on our social media Website - https://www.juandemariana.org Instagram -   / juandemariana   Facebook -   / juan.de.mariana   Twitter -   / juandemariana   LinkedIn -   / instituto-juan-de-mariana   Telegram - https://t.me/juandemariana