Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory
Title | Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory PDF eBook |
Author | Donald Green |
Publisher | Yale University Press |
Pages | 415 |
Release | 1994-09-28 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0300187084 |
This is the first comprehensive critical evaluation of the use of rational choice theory 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. In their final chapters, they anticipate and respond to a variety of possible rational choice responses to their arguments, thereby initiating a dialogue that is bound to continue for some time.
The People's Choice
Title | The People's Choice PDF eBook |
Author | Paul F. Lazarsfeld |
Publisher | |
Pages | 214 |
Release | 1948 |
Genre | Political parties |
ISBN |
Ideology and the Theory of Political Choice
Title | Ideology and the Theory of Political Choice PDF eBook |
Author | Melvin J. Hinich |
Publisher | University of Michigan Press |
Pages | 284 |
Release | 1996-09-16 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 9780472084135 |
A pioneering effort to integrate ideology with formal political theory
Religious Convictions and Political Choice
Title | Religious Convictions and Political Choice PDF eBook |
Author | Kent Greenawalt |
Publisher | Oxford University Press, USA |
Pages | 282 |
Release | 1991 |
Genre | Religion and politics |
ISBN | 0195067797 |
How far may Americans properly rely on their religious beliefs when they make and defend political decisions? For example, are ordinary citizens or legislators doing something wrong when they consciously allow their decisions respecting abortion laws to be determined by their religious views? Despite its intense contemporary relevance, the full dimensions of this issue have until now not been thoroughly examined. Religious Convictions and Political Choice represents the first attempt to fill this gap. Beginning with an account of the basic premises of our liberal democracy, Greenawalt moves to a comparison between rational secular grounds of decision and grounds based on religious convictions. He discusses particular issues such as animal rights and abortion, showing how religious convictions can bear on an individual's decisions about them, and inquires whether reliance on such convictions is compatible with liberal democratic premises. In conclusion, he argues that citizens cannot be expected to rely exclusively on rational, secular grounds.
Politics and the Architecture of Choice
Title | Politics and the Architecture of Choice PDF eBook |
Author | Bryan D. Jones |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Pages | 256 |
Release | 2001-05 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9780226406374 |
Politics and the Architecture of Choice draws on work in political science, economics, cognitive science, and psychology to offer an innovative theory of how people and organizations adapt to change and why these adaptations don't always work. Our decision-making capabilities, Jones argues, are both rational and adaptive. But because our rationality is bounded and our adaptability limited, our actions are not based simply on objective information from our environments. Instead, we overemphasize some factors and neglect others, and our inherited limitations—such as short-term memory capacity—all act to affect our judgment. Jones shows how we compensate for and replicate these limitations in groups by linking the behavioral foundations of human nature to the operation of large-scale organizations in modern society. Situating his argument within the current debate over the rational choice model of human behavior, Jones argues that we should begin with rationality as a standard and then study the uniquely human ways in which we deviate from it.
Post-Broadcast Democracy
Title | Post-Broadcast Democracy PDF eBook |
Author | Markus Prior |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 289 |
Release | 2007-04-02 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 0521858720 |
This 2007 book studies the impact of the media on politics in the United States during the last half-century.
Policy, Office, Or Votes?
Title | Policy, Office, Or Votes? PDF eBook |
Author | Wolfgang C. Müller |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 340 |
Release | 1999-08-28 |
Genre | Political Science |
ISBN | 9780521637237 |
This book examines the behaviour of political parties in situations where they experience conflict between two or more important objectives.