Is Rational Choice Theory All of Social Science? [[electronic resource]]

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910780703503321
• Autore: Lichbach Mark I
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Ann Arbor, : University of Michigan Press, 2009
• ISBN: 1-282-44470-0; 9786612444708; 0-472-02485-X
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (336 p.)
• Disciplina: 301/.01
• Soggetti: Electronic books. -- local; Rational choice theory; Social choice; Sociology & Social History; Social Change; Social Sciences
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di contenuto: Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part I. Foils and Stories; 1. Three Approaches to Foils; 1.1. Rational Choice Theory and Its Foils; 1.2. Social Scientific Theories and Their Foils; 1.3. Foils in the Academy; 1.4. My Hope for This Book; 2. Three Types of Stories; 2.1. Deep Stories; 2.2. Exemplar Theorists; 2.3. Ideal Types; 2.4. The Rational Reconstruction of Research Programs; 2.5. The Trouble with Stories: Thin and Thick Research Communities; 2.6. Typologies and Genealogies; Part II. The Rationalist Challenge; 3. Rational/Social Choice Theory; 3.1. Thin and Thick Rationalists; 3.2. Rationalist Ontology3.3. Rationalist Methodology; 4. Rationalism and Hegemony; 4.1. Why Rationalist Social Science Tends toward Hegemony; 4.2. The Result: Theoretical Synthesis and Empirical Conciliation; 4.3. Countertendencies: How Rationalist Social Science Defines Its Baselines and Boundaries; 4.4. Countertendencies: Why Rationalist Social Science Lowers Its Positivistic Pretensions; 4.5. Modest Rational Choice Theory; Part III. The Alternatives to Rationalist Hegemony; 5. Cultural/Interpretive Theory; 5.1. Thin and Thick ; Culturalists; 5.2. Culturalist Ontology; 5.3. Culturalist Methodology5.4. Culturalist Lacunae; 6. Structural/Institutional Theory; 6.1. Thin and Thick Structuralists; 6.2. Structuralist Ontology; 6.3. Structuralist Methodology; 6.4. Structuralist Lacunae; Part IV. The Debate about the Debate; 7. The Need for Synthesis: Structure and Action; 7.1. For Synthesis; 7.2. Types of Syntheses; 7.3. Structure/Institution and Action/Process; 7.4. Methodological Synthesis: The Causal and the Interpretive; 7.5. The Importance of Synthesis; 8. The Need for Analysis: Models and Foils; 8.1. For Models and Foils; 8.2. Against Synthesis; 8.3. Conclusion: Synthesis and AnalysisPart V. The Philosophy of Science; 9. The General and the Particular; 9.1. The Research Programs; 9.2. Weber's Approach; 9.3. The General and the Particular in the Social Sciences; 10. Models and Foils: A Modest Philosophy of Science for Social Science; 10.1. Theory; 10.2. Evidence; 10.3. Theory and Evidence; 10.4. Evaluation; 10.5. How a Modest Rationalist Evaluates Theory and Evidence; Notes; References; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: A timely examination of the current ""paradigm wars"" in political science