MARXISM, FUNCTIONALISM, AND GAME THEORY: The Case for Methodological Individualism.

The article presents information on Marxism, functionalism and game theory in relation to methodological individualism. This issue is related to the conflict over methodological individualism, rejected by many Marxists who wrongly link it with individualism in the ethical or political sense. By methodological individualism the author means the doctrine that all social phenomena (their structure and their change) are in principle explicable only in terms of individuals, their properties, goals and beliefs. This doctrine is not incompatible with any of the following true statements. Individuals often have goals that involve the welfare of other individuals, They often have beliefs about supra-individual entities that are not reducible to beliefs about individuals. "The capitalists fear the working class" cannot be reduced to the feelings of capitalists concerning individual workers. By contrast, "The capitalists' profit is threatened by the working class" can be reduced to a complex statement about the consequences of the actions taken by individual workers, Many properties of individuals, such as "powerful," are irreducibly relational, so that accurate description of one individual may require reference to other individuals.