The Many Flavors Of Rational Choice

This paper argues that it is premature to judge the weaknesses and strengths of the rational choice approach without more clearly defining what it means. Looking broadly across the social sciences, one finds that while rational choice is present all major disciplines, the forms that it takes across and within disciplines are various and often contradictory. In particular, these different versions can be contrasted along the following dimensions: (1) whether the purpose of rational choice models is viewed as primarily normative, predictive, or interpretive; (2) whether the approach is associated with formal, quantitative models or with informal, ”common sense” models; (3) whether the approach is seen as depicting an optimizing or a heuristic procedure; and (4) whether it is ”thick” in asserting certain preferences and beliefs or ”thin” in leaving these unspecified. Examining these differences in turn helps us to identify what, if anything, is the essence of the rational choice approach. ** FIX FOR FIVE DIMENSIONS