IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ratsoc/v4y1992i4p381-410.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Rational Choice Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • NEIL J. SMELSER

    (University of California, Berkeley)

Abstract

This essay attempts a theoretical assessment of the rational choice perspective, a central tenet in economics that has received wide application in recent decades in the other behavioral and social sciences. The analysis proceeds by several steps: (a) a specification of the historical contexts (economic, political, and ideological) of the rise and consolidation of the perspective in economics, (b) a description of the theoretical essentials of the perspective, (c) an outline of the major theoretical objections and criticisms of the perspective, (d) an identification of the major responses to the criticisms on the part of economists and others, including orthodox defense, aggrandizement, qualification, and theoretical extension and refinement, and (e) a concluding assessment of these several trends, which advances the proposition that rational choice theory—like psychoanalysis, Marxism, and funtional analysis—has experienced a kind of theoretical degeneration.

Suggested Citation

  • Neil J. Smelser, 1992. "The Rational Choice Perspective," Rationality and Society, , vol. 4(4), pages 381-410, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:4:y:1992:i:4:p:381-410
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463192004004003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1043463192004004003
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1043463192004004003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Norman K. Denzin, 1990. "Reading Rational Choice Theory," Rationality and Society, , vol. 2(2), pages 172-189, April.
    2. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Plott, Charles R, 1982. "Industrial Organization Theory and Experimental Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 1485-1527, December.
    4. Stigler, George J., 2011. "Economics of Information," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 35-49.
    5. Smith, Vernon L, 1982. "Microeconomic Systems as an Experimental Science," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(5), pages 923-955, December.
    6. Becker, Gary S & Landes, Elisabeth M & Michael, Robert T, 1977. "An Economic Analysis of Marital Instability," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(6), pages 1141-1187, December.
    7. Sandmo, Agnar, 1971. "On the Theory of the Competitive Firm under Price Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 65-73, March.
    8. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    9. Boland, Lawrence A, 1979. "A Critique of Friedman's Critics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 503-522, June.
    10. Talcott Parsons, 1935. "Sociological Elements in Economic Thought: II. The Analytical Factor View," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 49(4), pages 646-667.
    11. Talcott Parsons, 1932. "Economics and Sociology: Marshall in Relation to the Thought of his Time," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 46(2), pages 316-347.
    12. Peter H. Lindert, 1980. "Child Costs and Economic Development," NBER Chapters, in: Population and Economic Change in Developing Countries, pages 5-80, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Leibenstein, Harvey, 1979. "A Branch of Economics is Missing: Micro-Micro Theory," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 17(2), pages 477-502, June.
    14. Gary S. Becker, 1960. "An Economic Analysis of Fertility," NBER Chapters, in: Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, pages 209-240, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1.
    16. Boulding, Kenneth E, 1969. "Economics as a Moral Science," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(1), pages 1-12, March.
    17. Talcott Parsons, 1935. "Sociological Elements in Economic Thought: I. Historical," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 49(3), pages 414-453.
    18. Anthony Downs, 1957. "An Economic Theory of Political Action in a Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 135-135.
    19. Richard A. Easterlin, 1980. "Population and Economic Change in Developing Countries," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number east80-1.
    20. James S. Coleman, 1989. "Rationality and Society," Rationality and Society, , vol. 1(1), pages 5-9, July.
    21. Karl Borch, 1968. "General Equilibrium in the Economics of Uncertainty," International Economic Association Series, in: Karl Borch & Jan Mossin (ed.), Risk and Uncertainty, chapter 0, pages 247-264, Palgrave Macmillan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Santos, Susana & Gonçalves, Helena Martins, 2021. "The consumer decision journey: A literature review of the foundational models and theories and a future perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    2. Eric H. Rambo, 1999. "Symbolic Interests And Meaningful Purposes," Rationality and Society, , vol. 11(3), pages 317-342, August.
    3. Neil J. Smelser, 1993. "Response to Discussants," Rationality and Society, , vol. 5(1), pages 141-145, January.
    4. David Dequech, 2003. "Uncertainty and Economic Sociology:," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 509-532, July.
    5. Gudmund Hernes, 1992. "We Are Smarter than We Think," Rationality and Society, , vol. 4(4), pages 421-436, October.
    6. Thomas J. Fararo, 1992. "Rationality and Formal Theory," Rationality and Society, , vol. 4(4), pages 437-450, October.
    7. James B. Rule, 1992. "Rational Choice and the Limits of Theoretical Generality," Rationality and Society, , vol. 4(4), pages 451-469, October.
    8. Clemens Kroneberg & Meir Yaish & Volker Stocké, 2010. "Norms and Rationality in Electoral Participation and in the Rescue of Jews in WWII," Rationality and Society, , vol. 22(1), pages 3-36, February.
    9. Mary K. Farmer, 1992. "On the Need to Make a Better Job of Justifying Rational Choice Theory," Rationality and Society, , vol. 4(4), pages 411-420, October.
    10. Kroneberg, Clemens & Stocké, Volker & Yaish, Meir, 2006. "Norms or rationality? : The rescue of jews, electoral participation, and educational decisions," Papers 06-09, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    11. Kroneberg, Clemens, 2006. "The definition of the situation and variable rationality : the model of frame selection as a general theory of action," Papers 06-05, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. William Lord & Peter Rangazas, 2006. "Fertility and development: the roles of schooling and family production," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 229-261, September.
    2. Yannick Gabuthy & Nicolas Jacquemet, 2013. "Analyse économique du droit et méthode expérimentale," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-00746617, HAL.
    3. repec:hal:wpaper:halshs-00746617 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Pedro Nuno Teixeira, 2010. "Gary S. Becker," Chapters, in: Ross B. Emmett (ed.), The Elgar Companion to the Chicago School of Economics, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. repec:eee:labchp:v:1:y:1986:i:c:p:205-271 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Grant Miller, 2005. "Contraception as Development? New Evidence from Family Planning in Colombia," CID Working Papers 9, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    7. Edward P. Lazear, 2000. "Economic Imperialism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(1), pages 99-146.
    8. Gonzalez, Libertad, 2007. "The effect of benefits on single motherhood in Europe," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 393-412, June.
    9. Lawrence A. Boland & Irene M. Gordon, 1992. "Criticizing positive accounting theory," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(1), pages 142-170, September.
    10. Vriend, Nicolaas J., 1996. "Rational behavior and economic theory," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 263-285, March.
    11. Maria Stanfors & Frances Goldscheider, 2017. "The forest and the trees: Industrialization, demographic change, and the ongoing gender revolution in Sweden and the United States, 1870-2010," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(6), pages 173-226.
    12. Michael Grossman, 2016. "‘A Theory of the Allocation of Time’ Turns Fifty: Its Impact on the Field of Health Economics," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(1), pages 3-7, January.
    13. Bloom, D.E. & Luca, D.L., 2016. "The Global Demography of Aging," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 3-56, Elsevier.
    14. Ho, Chi Pui, 2016. "Industrious Selection: Explaining Five Revolutions and Two Divergences in Eurasian Economic History within a Unified Growth Framework," MPRA Paper 73862, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Robert Kaestner, 1995. "The Effects of Cocaine and Marijuana Use on Marriage and Marital Stability," NBER Working Papers 5038, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Yang, Bijou & Lester, David, 1995. "New directions for economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 433-446.
    17. Iyigun, Murat & Walsh, Randall P., 2007. "Endogenous gender power, household labor supply and the demographic transition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 138-155, January.
    18. Klaus Heine, 2013. "Inside the black box: incentive regulation and incentive channeling on energy markets," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(1), pages 157-186, February.
    19. Etzioni, Amitai, 2010. "Behavioral economics: A methodological note," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 51-54, February.
    20. Martin Werding, 2014. "Children are costly, but raising them may pay," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 30(8), pages 253-276.
    21. Miloš Krstić, 2014. "Rational Choice Theory and Addiction Behaviour," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 26(2), pages 163-177.
    22. J. K. Pappalardo, 2022. "Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 201-238, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:4:y:1992:i:4:p:381-410. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.