Concept information
Preferred term
Rational Choice Theory
Definition
- Rational choice theory is an umbrella term for a variety of models explaining social phenomena as outcomes of individual action that can in some way be construed as rational. “Rational behavior” is behavior that is suitable for the realization of specific goals, given the limitations imposed by the situation. [Source: Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia; Rational Choice Theory]
Broader concept
Narrower concepts
- bounded rationality
- bureau shaping
- collective action
- equilibrium theory
- externalities
- free riding
- governance failure
- impossibility theorem
- market failure
- new public management
- optimal decision making
- overload
- Pareto optimality
- political business cycles
- positive political theory
- prisoner's dilemma
- public choice theory
- public good
- rationality
- rationalization
- rent seeking
- revealed preference
- satisficing behavior
- social choice
- state capture
URI
https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/Rational_Choice_Theory
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