Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Spanish

French

This article re-examines the prevalent view that classical/neoclassical economics contains only bases or ingredients of rational choice theory, i.e., the economic model of human action and society. Instead, it proposes that elements or implications of alternative ‘irrational choice theory’ also coexist with those of ‘rational choice’ and are relatively important in much of classical and neoclassical economics. The article identifies and considers certain elements and implications of irrational choice theory in classical and neoclassical economics. These consist of the reality, possibility, and realm –i.e., conception and observation – of irrational choices in the economy. The article contributes to understanding better how traditional economics relates to contemporary economic-sociological rational choice theory and its alternative.

Keywords

Economic sociology economy and society irrational choices irrational choice theory rational choice theory

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Akerlof

(2002) Behavioral macroeconomics and macroeconomic behavior. American Economic Review 92(3): 411–433.

Akerlof

(2007) The missing motivation in macroeconomics. American Economic Review 97(1): 5–36.

Arrow

(1997) Invaluable goods. Journal of Economic Literature 35(2): 757–765.

Bastiat

(1860) Harmonies of Political Economy. London: Murray.

Becker

(1976) The Economic Approach to Human Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Böhm-Bawerk

(1929 [1899]) Theorie positive du capital. Paris: Marcel Girard.

Böhm-Bawerk

(1959 [1884]) Capital and Interest. South Holland: Libertarian Press.

Boudon

(2003) Beyond rational choice theory. Annual Review of Sociology 29: 1–21.

Bourdieu

(1998) Acts of Resistance. New York: New Press.

10.

Bourdieu

(2000) Pascalian Meditations. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

11.

Buchanan

(1991) Constitutional Economics. London: Basil Blackwell.

12.

Clark

(1908) The Distribution of Wealth. New York: Kelley and Millman.

13.

Coleman

(1990) Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

14.

Elster

(1989) Salomonic Judgements. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

15.

Elster

(1998) Emotions and economic theory. Journal of Economic Literature 36(1): 47–74.

16.

Emerson

(1976) Social exchange theory. Annual Review of Sociology 2: 335–362.

17.

Fararo

(1993) General social equilibrium: Toward theoretical synthesis. Sociological Theory 11(3): 291–313.

18.

Fararo

(2001) Social Action Systems. Westport, CT: Praeger.

19.

Francois

Lloyd-Ellis

(2003) Animal spirits through creative destruction. American Economic Review 93(3): 530–550.

20.

Hall

(2001) Struggling to understand the stock market. American Economic Review 91(1): 1–11.

21.

Hechter

Kanazawa

(1997) Sociological rational choice theory. Annual Review of Sociology 23: 191–214.

22.

Hirschman

(1977) The Passions and the Interests. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

23.

Hodgson

(1999) Economics and Utopia. New York: Routledge

24.

Homans

(1961) Social Behavior. New York: Harcourt.

25.

Kahneman

(2003) Maps of bounded rationality: Psychology for behavioral economics. American Economic Review 93(5): 1449–1475.

26.

Keynes

(1960 [1936]) The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. London: Macmillan.

27.

Knight

(1923) Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. New York: Kelley.

28.

Le Bon

(1960) The Crowd. New York: Viking Press.

29.

Marshall

(1961 [1890]) Principles of Economics. London: Macmillan.

30.

Menger

(1950 [1871]) Principles of Economics. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

31.

Mill

(1884) Principles of Political Economy. New York: Appleton.

32.

Mill

(1968 [1874]) Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy. New York: Augustus Kelley.

33.

Morishima

(1998) Power or Pure Economics ? New York: St Martin’s Press.

34.

Ostrom

(2010) Beyond markets and states: Polycentric governance of complex economic systems. American Economic Review 100(3): 641–672.

35.

Pareto

(1927) Manuel d’économie politique. Paris: Marcel Girard.

36.

Pareto

(1932) Traité de sociologie generale. Paris: Payot.

37.

Pareto

(1963 [1935]) The Mind and Society. New York: Dover Publications.

38.

Pareto

(2000 [1901]) The Rise and Fall of Elites. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

39.

Parsons

(1935) Sociological elements in economic thought. Quarterly Journal of Economics 49(3): 414–453.

40.

Parsons

(1967) The Structure of Social Action. New York: Free Press.

41.

Robbins

(1952) An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science. London: Macmillan.

42.

Samuelson

(1983) Foundations of Economic Analysis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

43.

Samuelson

(2004) Where Ricardo and Mill rebut and confirm arguments of mainstream economists supporting globalization. Journal of Economic Perspectives 18(3): 135–146.

44.

Say

J-B

(1972 [1803]) Traité d’économie politique. Paris: Calmann-Lévy.

45.

Say

J-B

(1964 [1803]) A Treatise on Political Economy. New York: Kelley.

46.

Schumpeter

(1949 [1911]) The Theory of Economic Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

47.

Schumpeter

(1950) Wesley Clair Mitchell (1874–1948). Quarterly Journal of Economics 64(1): 139–155.

48.

Schumpeter

(1991) The Economics and Sociology of Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

49.

Sen

(1977) Rational fools: A Critique of the behavioral foundations of economic theory. Philosophy and Public Affairs 6(4): 317–344.

50.

Smelser

(1997) Problematics of Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press.

51.

Smith

(1976 [1776]) An Inquiry into The Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

52.

Smith

(1977 [1759]) The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

53.

Smith

(2003) Constructivist and ecological rationality in economics. American Economic Review 93(3): 465–508.

54.

Stiglitz

(2002) Information and the change in the paradigm in economics. American Economic Review 92(3): 460–501.

55.

Veblen

(1909) The limitations of marginal utility. Journal of Political Economy 17(9): 620–636.

56.

Weber

(1968 [1920]) Economy and Society. New York: Bedminster Press.

57.

Weber

(1976 [1905]) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

58.

Wicksteed

(1933 [1910]) The Common Sense of Political Economy. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

59.

Wieser

(1956 [1893]) Natural Value, New York: Kelley and Millman.

60.

Williamson

(2010) Transaction cost economics: The natural progression. American Economic Review 100(3): 673–690.

61.

Yair

(2008a) The last musketeer of the French Revolution: Exploring the republican political agenda of Pierre Bourdieu. The Open Sociology Journal 1: 23–35.

62.

Yair

(2008b) Insecurity, conformity and community: James Coleman’s latent theoretical model of action. European Journal of Social Theory 11(1): 51–70.

Beneath rational choice: Elements of ‘irrational choice theory’

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References