MICRO LEVEL APPROACHES IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

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I - RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY

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• It Is a powerful tool in making sense of people act or behave in the way they do.

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• The essence of rational choice theory is that when faced with several courses of action, people usually do what they believe is likely to have the best overall outcome. Individual actions are based on their preferences, beliefs and feasible strategies (Ward, 2002)

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• The beginnings of rational choice theory (RCT) can be traced back to the behavioral revolution in American political science of the 1950’s and the 1960’s as instigated by behavioralist scholars following the behavioral tradition or persuasion.

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• Behavioral movement was strongly influenced by the positivist tradition in the social sciences by the writings of AUGUSTE COMTE in the 1920’s.

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• Behavioralists adopt the view of positivism about the nature of empirical theory and explanation. However, in contrast, to other social scientists, behavioralists believe that:

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a. Observable behavior, whether it is at the level of the individual or the social
aggregate, should be the focus of analysis;
b. Any explanation of that behavior should be susceptible to empirical testing.

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Rational choice theorists try to explain political phenomena by using the behavioral
conjecture that actors are rational – they make purposive, goal-seeking choices based
on their preferences.

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Sir Herbert Simon bounded rationality about the capacity of individuals. He believed that individuals use standard operating procedures as a heuristic device and as a shorthand guide to rational action. He strongly agreed that action is procedurally rational if it is based on beliefs that are reasonable given the context the actor is in.

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On the other hand, in contrast to rational choice theorists, sociologists believe that
“individual behavior is largely a function of social structures and not based om individual
choice.”

Sociologists find it implausible that individuals are fully autonomous. There are factors
that can shape decisions made by individuals. This may include social norms, ideologies
as well as rules and conventions.

Sociologists recognized that individual behavior can be driven by social norms
understood as deriving from society’s need for system integration as well as by
structures of belief and ideologies.