An interpretive reading is offered of contemporary sociological versions of rational choice theory, informed by the writings of Schutz, Garfinkel, Goffman, and Derrida. The topic of emotionality, as addressed by this theory, is central to the discussion. The ghost of a fully present, rational actor, as it haunts this theory, is examined, as are the terms choice and rationality.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alexander, Jeffrey C.
1987. Action and its environments. In The micro-macro link, edited by Jeffrey C. Alexander, Bernhard Giesen, Richard Munch, and Neil J. Smelser, 289-318. Berkeley: University of California Press.
2.
Becker, Gary
. 1986. The economic approach to human behavior. In Rational choice, edited by Jon Elster, 108-122. New York: New York University Press.
3.
Blumer, Herbert
. 1981. George Herbert Mead. In The future of the sociological classics, edited by Buford Rhea, 136-169. Boston: Allen & Unwin.
4.
Bredemeier, Harry C.
1978. Exchange theory. In A history of sociological analysis, edited by Tom Bottomore and Robert Nisbet, 418-456. New York: Basic Books.
5.
Brown, Richard Harvey
, 1987. Society as text: Essays on rhetoric, reason and reality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
6.
Coleman, James
. 1987. Free riders and zealots. In Social exchange theory, edited by Karen C. Cook, 59-82. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
7.
Collins, Randall
. 1987. Interaction ritual chains, power and property: The micro-macro connection as an empirically based theoretical problem. In The micro-macro link, edited by Jeffrey C. Alexander, Bernhard Giesen, Richard Munch, and Neil J. Smelser, 193-206. Berkeley: University of California Press.
8.
Cook, Karen C.
, ed. 1987. Social exchange theory. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
9.
Cooley, Charles Horton
. 1902. Human nature and the social order. New York: Scribner.
10.
Couch, Carl J.
1984. Constructing civilizations, Greenwich, CT: JAI.
11.
Davidson, Donald
. 1980. Essays on actions and events, New York: Oxford University Press.
12.
Denzin, Norman K.
1984. On understanding emotion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
13.
Denzin, Norman K.
1989. Interpretive interactionism (Applied Social Research Methods Series, Vol. 16). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
14.
Derrida, Jacques
. 1978. Writing and difference. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
15.
Ekeh, Peter
. 1974. Social exchange theory: The two traditions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
16.
Elster, Jon
. 1983. Sour grapes: Studies in the subversion of rationality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
17.
Elster, Jon
. 1984. Ulysses and the Sirens: Studies in rationality and irrationality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18.
Elster, Jon
. 1985. Making sense of Marx. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
19.
Elster, Jon
. 1986. Introduction. In Rational choice, edited by Jon Elster, 1-33. New York: New York University Press.
20.
Elster, Jon
. 1987. Introduction. In The multiple self, edited by Jon Elster, 1-34. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
21.
Elster, Jon
. 1989. The cement of society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
22.
Emerson, Richard M.
1981. Social exchange theory. In Social psychology: Sociological perspectives, edited by Morris Rosenberg and Ralph H. Turner, 30-59. New York: Basic Books.
23.
Emerson, Richard M.
1987. Toward a theory of value in social exchange. In Social exchange theory, edited by Karen S. Cook, 11-46. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
24.
Engell, J.
1981. The creative imagination: Englightenment to romanticism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
25.
Garfinkel, Harold
, 1967. Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
26.
Garfinkel, Harold
, Michael Lynch, and Eric Livingston. 1981. The work of a discovering science construed with material from the optically discovered pulsar. Philosophy of the Social Sciences11:131-158.
27.
Giddens, Anthony
. 1979. Central problems in social theory. Berkeley: University of California Press.
28.
Goffman, Erving
. 1967. Where the action is. In Interaction ritual, edited by E. Goffman, 149-270. New York: Doubleday.
29.
Goffman, Erving
. 1971. Relations in public. New York: Basic Books.
30.
Greil, A. L.
, and David R. Rudy. 1984. What have we learned from process models of conversion: An examination of ten case studies. Sociological Focus17:305-323.
31.
Habermas, Jurgen
. 1984. The theory of communication action. Vol. 1: Reason and the rationalization of society. Boston: Beacon.
32.
Hadari, Saguiv
. 1987. What are preference explanations?Social Science Quarterly68:349-357.
33.
Hall, John R.
1987. Gone from the promised land: Jonestown in American cultural history. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
34.
Harsanyi, John C.
1986. Advances in understanding rational behavior. In Rational choice, edited by Jon Elster, 108-122. New York: New York University Press.
35.
Hartsock, Nancy C. M.1985. Exchange theory: Critique from a feminist standpoint. Current Perspectives in Social Theory6:57-70.
36.
Heath, Anthony
. 1976. Rational choice and social exchange. London: Cambridge University Press.
37.
Hechter, Michael
. 1983a. Introduction. In The microfoundations of macrosociology, edited by M. Hechter, 1-15. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
38.
Hechter, Michael
. 1983b. A theory of group solidarity. In The microfoundations of macrosociology, edited by M. Hechter, 16-57. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
39.
Hechter, Michael
. 1987. Principles of group solidarity. Berkeley: University of California Press.
40.
Hindess, Barry
. 1984. Rational choice theory and the analysis of political action. Economy and Society13:255-277.
41.
Hochschild, Arlie R.
1983. The managed heart. Berkeley: University of California Press.
42.
Homans, George C.
1975. Social behavior: Its elementary forms. Rev. ed.New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.
43.
Kanter, Rosabeth M.
1972. Commitment and community: Communes and utopias in sociological perspective. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
44.
Kemper, Theodore D.
1978. A social interactional theory of emotions. New York: Wiley.
45.
Latane, B.
, and J. M. Darley. 1968. Group Inhibition of bystander intervention in Emergencies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology10:215-221.
46.
Luce, R. D.
, and H. Raiffa. 1957. Games and decisions. New York: Wiley.
47.
Lyotard, Jean Francois
. [1979] 1984. The postmodern condition. Reprint. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
48.
Mills, C. Wright
, 1959. The power elite. New York: Oxford University Press.
49.
Olson, Mancur, Jr.
1965. The logic of collective action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
50.
Parsons, Talcott
. 1937. The structure of social action. New York: McGraw-Hill.
51.
Parsons, Talcott
. 1951. The social system. New York: Free Press.
52.
Porpora, Douglas, V.
1987. The concept of social structure. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
53.
Rapoport, A.
, and A. Chammah. 1965. Prisoner's dilemma. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
54.
Rudy, David
. 1986. Becoming an alcoholic. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
55.
Sartre, Jean-Paul
. 1976. Critique of dialectical reason. London: New Left Press.
56.
Scheff, Thomas J.1983. Toward integration in the social psychology of emotions. Annual Review of Sociology9:333-354.
57.
Schroeder, William
. 1985. Sartre and his predecessors: The self and the other. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
58.
Schutz, Alfred
. 1943. The problem of rationality in the social world. Economica10:130-149.
59.
Schutz, Alfred
. 1964. Collected papers, II: Studies in social theory. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
60.
Smith, Adam
. 1911. A theory of moral sentiments. London: Bell.
61.
Turner, Jonathan H.
1986. The structure of sociological theory. 4th ed.Chicago: Dorsey.
62.
Turner, Victor W.
1986. Dewey, Dilthey, and drama: An essay in the anthropology of experience. In The anthropology of experience, edited by V. W. Turner and E. M. Bruner, 33-44. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
63.
von Neumann, John
, and Oskar Morgenstern. 1947. Theory of games and economic behavior. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
64.
Wiley, Norbert
. 1988. The micro-macro problem in social theory. Sociological Theory6:254-261.
65.
Winch, Peter
. 1968. Understanding a primitive society. American Philosophical Quarterly1:307-324.
66.
Zablocki, Benjamin
. 1971. The joyful community. Baltimore, MD: Penguin.
