Decision Making and the Study of Social Process

Abstract

Within the limits set by structural arrangements and by institutions, individuals choose their course of action. Anthropologists have always been interested in the outcome of these choices either because they reflect ongoing change or because they elucidate interrelations between institu tions. In order for decision-making analysis to be more than anecdotal, however, it needs to be guided by a set of assumptions concerning reasoning and cognitive processes, and the conditions germane to them. Economists. sociologists, psychologists, philosophers and mathematicians have already outlined many useful assumptions. Part of our task in this paper is to con tribute to a systematization of those assumptions that arc most relevant to anthropological interests. We also discuss the advantages and limitations of decision analysis for social anthropology, examine the theoretical and methodological implications of "rationality," and present a sequence of hypothetical steps that we regard as requisites for an adequate decision- making analysis.