Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory: A Critique of Applications in Political Science

254 Pages·1996·24.481 MB·English

by  Green, Donald P.;Shapiro, I.;Shapiro, Ian

PATHOLOGIES OF RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
This page intentionally left blank
DONALD P. GREEN
IAN SHAPIRO
PATHOLOGIES
OF RATIONAL
CHOICE THEORY
A CRITIQUE OF
APPLICATIONS
IN POLITICAL
SCIENCE
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW HAVEN AND LONDON
Copyright © 1994 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be
reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that
copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the
publishers.
Designed by Nancy Ovedovitz and set in Times Roman type by The Composing
Room of Michigan, Inc. Printed in the United States of America by Vail-Ballou
Press, Binghamton, New York.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Green, Donald P., 1961-
Pathologies of rational choice theory : a critique of applications in political
science / Donald P. Green and Ian Shapiro.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-300-06636-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Rational choice theory. 2. Political science—Methodology.
I. Shapiro, Ian. II. Title.
JA73.G74 1994
320'.01'1—dc20 94-11070
CIP
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on
Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6
For Ann and Judy
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
PREFACE ix
ONE / RATIONALITY IN POLITICS AND ECONOMICS 1
TWO / THE NATURE OF RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY 13
THREE / METHODOLOGICAL PATHOLOGIES 33
FOUR/THE PARADOX OF VOTER TURNOUT 47
FIVE / SOCIAL DILEMMAS AND FREE-RIDING 72
SIX / LEGISLATIVE BEHAVIOR AND THE PARADOX OF VOTING 98
SEVEN / SPATIAL THEORIES OF ELECTORAL COMPETITION 147
EIGHT / RESPONSES TO LIKELY COUNTERARGUMENTS 179
REFERENCES 205
INDEX 233
This page intentionally left blank
PREFACE
Since the publication of Kenneth Arrow's Social Choice and Individual
Values in 1951 there has been an explosion of rational choice scholarship in political
science, but there exists in it a curious disjunction that provides both the occasion and
motivation for this book. On the one hand, great strides have been made in the
theoretical elaboration of rational actor models. Formidable analytical challenges
have attracted a number of first-class minds; rational choice theories have grown in
complexity and sophistication as a result. On the other hand, successful empirical
applications of rational choice models have been few and far between. Most of the
early rational choice work was either not empirical at all, or it was crude and impres-
sionistic. What is surprising is how little things have changed in this regard since the
1950s.
When we began this study our goal was to understand and account for this relative
dearth of sound empirical work. Early on we discovered that in the highly charged
debates about the merits of rational choice theory protagonists tend to speak past one
another. Practitioners operate within the confines of an esoteric technical vocabulary
that is seldom understood by anyone else. Critics tend to ignore or heap scorn on the
rational choice approach without understanding it fully. They dismiss its assumptions
or scientific aspirations, or they get it wrong in elementary ways. Not surprisingly,
practitioners generally ignore them.
We set out to write an appraisal that would address rational choice scholarship on
its own terms. We did not challenge rational choice theorists' aspiration to study
politics scientifically, nor did we take exception to the assumptions on which rational
choice models have been based. We granted much of the rational choice critique of
other modes of studying politics, and we looked to the literatures where rational
choice models are reputed to have enjoyed their greatest successes: those growing out
ix