Rational Choice Theory in Sociology: A Methodological Argument

• Main Author: ALEXANDRA GHEONDEA-ELADI
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Romanian Academy 2013-07-01
• Series: Revista Română de Sociologie
• Subjects: testing rational choice theory; game theory; qualitative methodology; volunteering
• Online Access: http://www.revistadesociologie.ro/pdf-uri/nr.3-4-2013/20-AEladi.pdf

În the last years, rational choice theory (RCT) took over a lot of the social sciences, almost polarizing discussions in sociology, such that I was able to hear questions like: are there any other theories in sociology, besides rational choice theory? Although the answer to this question is clearly yes, what seems to be important to avoid is that the moment when this theory monopolizes behavioural explanations in a multi-paradigmatic discipline should not come from partial or incomplete knowledge of it. Consequently, I decided to write this article with two goals in mind: one, to make a review of what rational choice theory is and means to sociology and secondly, to shortly present a research which questioned the structuring of social events according to this theory[1]. In the first part of this paper, I will present the main aspects of rational choice theory, such that I can argue for choosing one of its variants in the second section. In the last part I will present the methodology I used to explore the closeness of the Volunteer's Dilemma (as Diekmann (1985, 1993) proposed it) to the volunteering situation in Romania. I shall do this by aid of institutional analysis and interview analysis. The results of the research will be briefly described, such that, in the end, the conclusions can summarize the main ideas about rational choice theory emerging from this article.