From Individualism to the Individual treats finance as a social and cultural process, exploring the unseen side of academic discourse and the many obstacles the deeply entrenched elite puts in the way of alternative thinking. Opening with a detailed discussion of the role of ideology in the perpetuation of the limited methodological bias of the profession toward markets, the book then examines the more specific effects of such ideological limitations on theoretical and empirical research in finance. The authors develop alternative ways to examine finance both as a profession and as a field of inquiry. This book will be of particular value to researchers and practitioners working in finance, as well as those in other social science disciplines whose research relates to finance, culture and society.