Rational Choice Theory: Resisting Colonisation

by Archer,Margaret S.

• ISBN13: 9780415242721
• ISBN10: 041524272X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-01-29
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Rational Choice Theoryis the first book length critique of this theory, dominant in sociology outside the UK and now making in roads in the UK, and increasingly influential in other disciplines. This controversial volume argues that the theory is an inadequate way in which to evaluate decision making inadequate in terms of: * the individuals who make the decisions * the process by which decisions get made * the context within which decisions get made. The critique focuses on the four assumptions which are the bedrock of rational choice; rationality, individualism, process and aggregation and draws on a wide range of social issues, including race, marriage, health and education.

Author Biography

Margaret S. Archer of is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick and is a former editor of Current Sociology. Jonathan Q. Tritter is a lecturer in Sociology at the University of Warwick.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	vii
Notes on contributors	ix
Introduction	1	(16)
Margaret S. Archer
Jonathan Q. Tritter
PART I Rationality	17	(56)
The bird in hand: rational choice - the default mode of social theorizing	19	(17)
Peter Wagner
Homo economicus, Homo sociologicus and Homo sentiens	36	(21)
Margaret S. Archer
Is rational choice theory `unreasonable'? The neglected emotions	57	(16)
Simon J. Williams
PART II Individualism	73	(72)
Social theory and the underclass: social realism or rational choice individualism?	75	(18)
Justin Cruickshank
(Ir)rational choice: a multidimensional approach to choice and constraint in decisions about marriage, divorce and remarriage	93	(18)
Kay Peggs
Richard Lampard
Switching allegiances: decisions by schools to `opt out' to self-management	111	(15)
Jonathan Q. Tritter
Rational choice or `Hobson's choice'? Intention and constraint in UK higher education	126	(19)
Andrew Parker
PART III Temporality	145	(89)
`I do': a theoretical critique of Becker's rational choice approach to marriage decisions	147	(20)
Ian Procter
Decision-making as a process over time: the careers of home-located cultural workers	167	(16)
Carol Wolkowitz
The decision to commit a crime against humanity	183	(17)
Robert Fine
David Hirsh
`Race', ethnicity and housing decisions: rational choice theory and the choice-constraints debate	200	(19)
Peter Ratcliffe
Conclusion	217	(2)
`When the battle's lost and won'	219	(15)
James A. Beckford
Bibliography	234	(15)
Name Index	249	(4)
Subject Index	253