Methodological Individualism in Historical Analysis

Tags: Decentralization and Secession, Secession, U.S. History

07/05/2025 Wanjiru Njoya

Modern historians depend heavily upon sweeping narratives and their take on the US War of Secession is no exception. Yet, the use of methodological individualism allows one to avoid sweeping judgments like claiming the Confederacy was founded upon belief in white supremacy.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/methodological-individualism-historical-analysis-0

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.