In the research of Yuko Nonoyama-Tarumi “Educational Achievement of

Children From Single-Mother and Single –Father Families: The Case of Japan”
the study discusses the theory of James Coleman which is the Social Capital
Theory and Rational Theory. The aim of Coleman’s concept of social capital
was to import the economists’ principle of rational action for use in the
analysis of social systems without discarding social organization in the
process. As such, Coleman connected sociology and the social actions of
individuals with the rational ideas of economists. This theoretical union
represents a middle line between two theoretical traditions. The first is a
functionalist view of social action which is conditioned by social structure. The
second is rational theory which suggests that actors’ goals are determined by
utility-maximizing pursuit of his or her self-interest.
The study uses sixth-grade data from the 2013 National Assessment of
Academic Ability and the Detailed Survey, which was the first nationally
representative parental survey collected through schools in Japan. The results
indicate that children of single-mother and single-father families perform
academically lower than children of two-parent families. For children living in
single-mother families, more than 50% of the educational disadvantage was
explained by a lack of economic resources. For children living in single-father
families, the educational disadvantage was explained more by a lack of
parenting resources, measured by discussions at home, supervision at home,
and involvement in school, than economic resources. These findings suggest
that the gendered labor force and division of labor among spouses in Japanese
society may deprive parents of the ability to buffer the negative relationship
between single parenthood and children’s educational achievement.
For Coleman, individuals engage in social interactions, relationships and
networks for as long as the benefits persist. This logic stems from rational
choice theory which seeks to explain human behaviour through rationality.
These rational actions are set in a particular social context accounting for not
only the actions of individuals, but also the development of social organization.