L’individu existe-t-il dans la société arabo-musulmane? Parcours individuels et insertion sociétale: une lecture de N. Elias, Die Gesellschaft der Individuen, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1987

Abstract

After a socio-linguistic survey on the Arabic terms which could be used to translate the word ‘individual’, this paper carries on a sociological and anthropological analysis of the concepts of individual versus society and individualism versus holism, both in Western and Islamic world, inspired by Norbert Elias’ opinions about what he calls the “society of the individuals”. The study shows how the answer to the question whether the individual exists or not in the Islamic society could eventually be found within the frame of a critical approach to the traditional categories of self-conscience.