A Return of Society at the Scale of the Individual: Subjectivity and Politics in Simmel and Durkheim

Abstract

In contrast to the contemporary trend of resorting to psychological vocabulary for political interpretation, called by terms such as the "pathologization of the social" (Martuccelli) or "psychologization of politics" (Safatle), this article proposes a reading of the relationship between individualism and freedom in sociological theory to tackle present dilemmas. Drawing primarily on the original texts and reception of Émile Durkheim and Georg Simmel, my objective is to outline elements for a sociological contribution to the debate surrounding individual subjectivities and their political dimension today. Thus, while engaging the authors of the past in an attempt to situate their work towards the analysis of unexpected historical cases within their contexts, I propose a sort of "return of society" (Botelho) within the field of the sociologies of the individual – aiming to interpret the structure of opportunities established by the process of individuation, in order to propose forms of strategic action regarding practices of the self for democratic freedom.