Research Catalog

Title

Pathologies of rational choice theory : a critique of applications in political science / Donald P. Green, Ian Shapiro.

Author

Green, Donald P., 1961-

Publication

New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, [1994], ©1994.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Shapiro, Ian.

Description

xi, 239 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

• This is the first comprehensive critical evaluation of the use of rational choice explanations in political science. Writing in an accessible and nontechnical style, Donald P. Green and Ian Shapiro assess rational choice theory where it is reputed to be most successful: the study of collective action, the behavior of political parties and politicians, and such phenomena as voting cycles and Prisoner's Dilemmas.
• In their hard-hitting critique, Green and Shapiro demonstrate that the much-heralded achievements of rational choice theory are in fact deeply suspect and that fundamental rethinking is needed if rational choice theorists are to contribute to the understanding of politics.
• Green and Shapiro show that empirical tests of rational choice theories are marred by a series of methodological defects. These defects flow from the characteristic rational choice impulse to defend universal theories of politics. As a result, many tests are so poorly conducted as to be irrelevant to evaluating rational choice models. Tests that are properly conducted either tend to undermine rational choice theories or to lend support for propositions that are banal.
• Green and Shapiro offer numerous suggestions as to how rational choice propositions might be reformulated as parts of testable hypotheses for the study of politics. In a final chapter they anticipate and respond to a variety of rational choice counterarguments, thereby initiating a dialogue that is bound to continue for some time.

Subjects

• Rational choice theory
• Political science > Methodology

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

1. Rationality in Politics and Economics -- 2. The Nature of Rational Choice Theory -- 3. Methodological Pathologies -- 4. The Paradox of Voter Turnout -- 5. Social Dilemmas and Free-Riding -- 6. Legislative Behavior and the Paradox of Voting -- 7. Spatial Theories of Electoral Competition -- 8. Responses to Likely Counterarguments.

ISBN

• 0300059140
• 0300066368 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

94011070

OCLC

• 30398453
• ocm30398453

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries