Jon Elster and the Methodological Individualism: A Reading

Abstract

Starting from the description of the main theoretical proposals of the named
Marxism of the Rational Option, of which most important representative is
Jon Elster, it is discussed the fertility that the individual analysis could have
nowadays for the Social Sciences.
The agreement that starting from the individual rationalities is possible to
find plausible explanations of the social phenomena does not impede the
author to add that if social action is determinated by social norms, desires
and individual interests, they are not only conditioned by the beliefs with
which the individuals analyze the evidences, but exists a unit of social
determinations that can not be explained by individual behavior, like
influence of the class origin, culture, ideology; all of them socially formed
and that have diverse influence in every individual rational option.