TY - GEN T1 - Is rational choice theory all of social science? T2 - Book collections on Project MUSE. T2 - UPCC book collections on Project MUSE. Archive Political Science and Policy Studies Foundation. A1 - Lichbach, Mark Irving, 1951- LA - English PP - Ann Arbor PB - The University of Michigan Press YR - 2003 UL - https://ebooks.jgu.edu.in/Record/jstor_eba_ocn587603662 AB - Annotation Advocates of rational choice theory in political science have been perceived by their critics as attempting to establish an intellectual hegemony in contemporary social science, to the detriment of alternative methods of research. The debate has gained a nonacademic audience, hitting the pages of the New York Times and the New Republic. In the academy, the antagonists have expressed their views in books, journal articles, and at professional conferences. Mark I. Lichbach addresses the question of the place of rational choice theory in the social sciences in general and in political science in particular. He presents a typology of the antagonists as either rationalist, culturalist, or structuralist and offers an insightful examination of the debate. He reveals that the rationalist bid for hegemony and synthesis is rooted in the weaknesses, not the strengths, of rationalist thought. He concludes that the various theoretical camps are unlikely to accept the claimed superiority of the rationalist approach but that this opposition is of value in itself to the social sciences, which requires multiple perspectives to remain healthy. With its penetrating examination of the assumptions and basic arguments of each of the sides to this debate, this book cuts through the partisan rhetoric and provides an essential roadmap for the future of the discipline. Mark I. Lichbach is Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland. CN - HM495 SN - 9780472024858 SN - 047202485X SN - 0472068199 SN - 9780472068197 SN - 9780472098194 SN - 0472098195 SN - 0472098195 (Cloth : alk. paper) KW - Rational choice theory. KW - TheĢorie des choix rationnels. KW - SOCIAL SCIENCE : Regional Studies. KW - SOCIAL SCIENCE : Anthropology : General. KW - POLITICAL SCIENCE : General. KW - Rational choice theory KW - Rationele keuze. KW - Social choice. KW - Politieke wetenschappen. KW - Sociale wetenschappen. ER -