The Micro-Macro Problem in Social Theory

Abstract

This paper will locate and examine the micro-macro problem in the context of the larger problem of levels, the latter tending to include solutions to the former. Levels theory is meta-theoretical, for it is presuppositional to substantive or theory. Levels theory constitutes the levels and therefore the kinds of social reality, while substantive theory looks for causal connections within and among the levels. The priority of levels over sectors theory, however, is only analytic. Historically the influence can be reversed, as levels shift in power relative to each other. The rise of Durkheim's sacred self in the Nineteenth century or Luhmann's social system in the Twentieth are dramatic examples of these shifts. But despite the intimate connection between levels and sectors-the vertical and the horizontal, so to speak-I will simplify the discussion and attempt to treat the former with a minimum of reference to the latter.