Daniel Little — Mohamed Cherkaoui on the micro-macro debate

Strong (decontextualized) vesus weak (contextualized) methodological individualism. I call the former "methodological atomism" and Little calls the latter "methodological localism." Sociologists recognize this as an important distinction. In economics this is the distinction between neoclassical, Austrian, and New Keynesians, on one hand, and various approaches to institutionalism, on the other.

An actor-centered sociology does not have to be based on a rational-choice model of the actor, and it isn't forced to ignore interactions and relationships among actors as they go through their social lives. So one quick rebuttal to Cherkaoui's argument is that "micro"-sociology does not equate to "isolated individual"-sociology. (This is the point of my own construct of "methodological localism", looking at individuals as socially situated and socially constituted; link.) Actor-centered sociology is not the same as decontextualized methodological individualism (link).

Understanding Society
Mohamed Cherkaoui on the micro-macro debate
Daniel Little | Chancellor, University of Michigan at Dearborn