Do Rational Choice Approaches have Problems?

Rational Choice Theory: An Overview

It seems easy to accept that rationality involves many features that cannot be summarized in terms of some straightforward formula, such as binary consistency.  However, this recognition does not immediately lead to alternative characterizations that might be regarded as satisfactory, even though the inadequacies of the traditional assumptions of rational behavior standard used in economic theo...

Rational Choice Theory: An Overview

It seems easy to accept that rationality involves many features that cannot be summarized in terms of some straightforward formula, such as binary consistency.  However, this recognition does not immediately lead to alternative characterizations that might be regarded as satisfactory, even though the inadequacies of the traditional assumptions of rational behavior standard used in economic theo...

Cognitive Architecture: What Choice Do We Have?

Do company towns solve free rider problems? A sensitivity analysis of a rational-choice explanation

Coleman (1979; 1994) has argued that sociological rational choice theory is an appropriate tool to analyze organizations. He emphasizes that the theory combines the analytical power of formal decision analysis with sociology’s attention to informal incentives. Our paper aims to caution against a potential danger in Coleman’s research agenda. Substantively important implications of the theory, n...

Rational Choice Theory: A Cultural Reconsideration

Economists have heralded the formulation of the expected utility theorem as a universal method of choice under uncertainty. In their seminal paper, Stigler and Becker (Stigler & Becker, 1977) declared that “human behavior can be explained by a generalized calculus of utility-maximizing behavior” (p.76). The universality of the rational choice theory has been widely criticized by psychologists, ...