This article considers Alain Ehrenberg's extensive analysis of individualism in contemporary France. It shows how he has traced the emergence of autonomy as a key social value, and it goes on to analyse the distinctive features of Ehrenberg's sociological approach. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Ehrenberg does not regard the growth of individualism in France as a tragic process of anomie and isolation. In fact, he is critical of what he sees as a pervasive French discourse of ‘declinology’, and he has expressed his growing frustration with this perspective more recently in explicitly political terms. Although he acknowledges that autonomy can be burdensome for individuals, he feels that the state should respond to the sociological fact of autonomy by supporting and empowering citizens as autonomous agents. The article concludes by drawing attention to the limitations of this political position.

本文考虑了阿兰·埃伦伯格 (Alain Ehrenberg) 对当代法国个人主义的广泛分析。它展示了他如何追踪作为关键社会价值的自主性的出现，并继续分析埃伦伯格社会学方法的独特特征。与他同时代的许多人不同，埃伦伯格并不认为法国个人主义的发展是失范和孤立的悲惨过程。事实上，他对他所认为的法国“衰退学”的普遍话语持批评态度，并且最近他以明确的政治术语表达了他对这一观点日益增长的失望。尽管他承认自治对个人来说可能是一种负担，但他认为国家应该通过支持和授权公民作为自治代理人来回应自治的社会学事实。