Choice, Rationality and Social Theory (Controversies in Sociology, Volume 22)

This book provides a challenge to the claims of rational choice analysis: the theory that life is principally explicable as the outcome of rational self-interest on the part of individual actors intent on maximizing the satisfaction of their own preferences. Through analysis of the concepts of the actor and of rationality, Barry Hindess argues that the theory is seriously deficient and makes highly questionable assumptions which close off major areas of intellectual enquiry. It ignores the existence of actors other than human individuals; the reality of social influences; and the deliberative process of decision making. It is aimed at students of social theory and sociology.