Abstract

At least since the early modern era, the concept of individualism has been extolled within social theory as contributing new and significant understandings of identity. This is especially the case in recent times. Here, research on individualism has been used to track broader social developments and changes. But what exactly does individualism connote and why has it received so much attention? Why have authors as far ranging as Alexis de Tocqueville, Anthony Giddens, Stephen Lukes, Anthony Elliott and Charles Lemert devoted so much time to its study and what do they each have to tell us? This chapter seeks to address such questions by offering a broad overview of how individualism has been explored in both classical and contemporary social theory through an investigation of its historical and varied meanings. In doing so, it ultimately argues that the recent introduction of a temporal dimension has been a major breakthrough in how individualism has come to be understood.