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Basic Introduction To Rational Choice Theory
Basic Introduction To Rational Choice Theory
H. Stobbs, MFA
Political Science 200:
Liberal Democracy in America
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The Problem of Political Science
Problem: Whereas economics has the
“science of choice” and sociology has
been called “the science of no choice at
all,” political science has no characteristic
scientific approach to call its own.
Solution: Borrow from other scientific
fields.
Origins
• In the 1940’s and 50’s many scholars
began seeking a genuinely scientific basis
for political science – they looked
admiringly upon the fields of sociology and
psychology and began to adopt behavioral
methods that focused on questions about
political psychology and political sociology
Origins
• In the 1970’s many scholars grew
dissatisfied with these non-rational
approaches. They began to look to more
concrete disciplines like operations
research and economics theory (Such as
Hotelling’s Law on Minimal Differentiation
and its opposing Product Differentiation
Model) and for models to restore
rationality to the field of political science.
Origins
• This caused a backlash on the part of the
behavioralists as well as historically- and
philosophically-focused scholars who
complained, as Morris P. Fiorina writes,
about “ the reduction of political man and
woman to atomistic calculators, and the
capture of the research agenda by applied
mathematicians and ‘economic
imperialists’.”
Origins
• In the early “aughts” scholars concerned
that a biological approach had been
overlooked began to push the field toward
biopolitics, which examines how genetic
and physiological tendencies are related to
political behavior.
Mayhew’s Approach
David Mayhew is one of many
political scientists who have
adopted “Rational Choice theory”
and its variants economic theory
and public choice theory. The most
important commonality of these
three variants is that they focus on
behavior. Mayhew aligns himself
more closely with economics than
with sociology.
Variants within Variants
• Decision theory centers on cost-benefit
calculations that individuals make without
reference to anyone else’s plans
• Game theory analyzes how people make
choices based on what they expect other
individuals to do.
General Assumption
Individuals choose the best option
according to their preferences and the
constraints they face
Most Models Based in
Methodological Individualism
Jacobson, Gary. The politics of Congressional elections, 6th ed. New York: Pearson, 2004. Accessed
Mayhew, David R. Congress: The Electoral Connection, Second Ed. New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2004.
Shapiro, Ian. “A Model That Pretends to Explain Everything.” Accessed 12 January 2008 from
http://phoenix.liu.edu/~uroy/eco54/histlist/pol-sci-rational.htm.