Download or read book Using Underlying Priorities for Rational Choice Explanations written by Pascal König and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2010-07 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Politics - Political systems in general and in comparison, grade: 1,0, University of Mannheim, language: English, abstract: This enquiry deals with the shortcomings of rational choice theory in explaining voter turnout as a rational - i.e. efficient in terms of costs and benefits - act. It is argued that intrinsic benefits, i.e. benefits that accrue to the citizen independent of an election outcome, should provide a proper explanatory potential if one can account for different implications of these benefits for different voters. The rationale should hold for benefits in general, though. Underlying coherent priorities in the form of political values (materialism vs. postmaterialism) are used to differentiate voters and to probe for differing impacts of determinants of voter turnout depending on different underlying values. The thesis is that the impacts of these determinants differ for different values. The tested determinants, taken from the literature, are appreciation of democracy, social norms, party identification and material resources. Hypotheses about impacts are formulated on the basis of the theory of political values for every determinant and tested by means of logistic regression employing data from German election studies. Whereas the impacts of social norms and material resources vary by underlying values, the results for appreciation of democracy and party identification remain inclusive.
Download or read book Using underlying priorities for rational choice explanations written by Pascal König and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Politics - Political systems in general and in comparison, grade: 1,0, University of Mannheim, language: English, abstract: This enquiry deals with the shortcomings of rational choice theory in explaining voter turnout as a rational - i.e. efficient in terms of costs and benefits - act. It is argued that intrinsic benefits, i.e. benefits that accrue to the citizen independent of an election outcome, should provide a proper explanatory potential if one can account for different implications of these benefits for different voters. The rationale should hold for benefits in general, though. Underlying coherent priorities in the form of political values (materialism vs. postmaterialism) are used to differentiate voters and to probe for differing impacts of determinants of voter turnout depending on different underlying values. The thesis is that the impacts of these determinants differ for different values. The tested determinants, taken from the literature, are appreciation of democracy, social norms, party identification and material resources. Hypotheses about impacts are formulated on the basis of the theory of political values for every determinant and tested by means of logistic regression employing data from German election studies. Whereas the impacts of social norms and material resources vary by underlying values, the results for appreciation of democracy and party identification remain inclusive.
Download or read book Rational Choice in an Uncertain World written by Reid Hastie and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2010 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Second Edition of Rational Choice in an Uncertain World the authors compare the basic principles of rationality with actual behaviour in making decisions. They describe theories and research findings from the field of judgment and decision making in a non-technical manner, using anecdotes as a teaching device. Intended as an introductory textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, the material not only is of scholarly interest but is practical as well. The Second Edition includes: - more coverage on the role of emotions, happiness, and general well-being in decisions - a summary of the new research on the neuroscience of decision processes - more discussion of the adaptive value of (non-rational heuristics) - expansion of the graphics for decision trees, probability trees, and Venn diagrams.
Download or read book The Rational Choice Controversy written by Jeffrey Friedman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pathologies of Rational Choice Theory, a book written by Donald Green and Ian Shapiro and published in 1994, excited much controversy among political scientists and promoted a dialogue among them that was printed in a double issue of the journal Critical Review in 1995. This new book reproduces thirteen essays from the journal written by senior scholars in the field, along with an introduction by the editor of the journal, Jeffrey Friedman, and a rejoinder to the essays by Green and Shapiro. The scholars--who include John Ferejohn, Morris P. Fiorina, Stanley Kelley, Jr., Robert E. Lane, Peter C. Ordeshook, Norman Schofield, and Kenneth A. Shepsle--criticize, agree with, or build on the issues raised by Green and Shapiro s critique. Together the essays provide an interesting and accessible way of focusing on competing approaches to the study of politics and the social sciences.
Download or read book Rational Choice Theory written by Margaret S. Archer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-03 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rational Choice Theory is flourishing in sociology and is increasingly influential in other disciplines. Contributors to this volume are convinced that it provides an inadequate conceptualization of all aspects of decision making: of the individuals who make the decisions, of the process by which decisions get made and of the context within which decisions get made. The ciritique focuses on the four assumptions which are the bedrock of rational choice: rationality: the theory's definition of rationality is incomplete, and cannot satisfactorily incorporate norms and emotions individualism: rational choice is based upon atomistic, individual decision makers and cannot account for decisions made by ;couples', 'groups' or other forms of collective action process: the assumption of fixed, well-ordered preferences and 'perfect information' makes the theory inadequate for situations of change and uncertainty aggregation: as methodological individualists, rational choice theorists can only view structure and culture as aggregates and cannot incorporate structural or cultural influences as emergent properties which have an effect upon decision making. The critique is grounded in discussion of a wide range of social issues, including race, marriage, health and education.
Download or read book Priority of Needs written by Bernhard Kittel and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Rethinking Rational Choice Theory written by Jan de Jonge and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-12-12 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The marriage of neuroscience and the science of choice behaviour gave birth to neuroeconomics. Jan de Jong explores this new discipline, investigating the relationship between choice behaviour and brain activity, and the light that this sheds on our systems of reasoning.
Download or read book Economic Lessons from the Transition The Basic Theory Re examined written by Daniel R. Kazmer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-09-16 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic Lessons from the Transition focuses on major transitions in the 1990s: the transition from central planning and communism to market capitalism and the global integration of national financial systems. The transitions were supposed to raise most peoples' standard of living; instead they dramatically worsened the lives of most people in the countries involved. While most attempts to explain this failure focus on policies, the authors of this book argue that failure of economic theory to fully understand these transitions has led to bad policies that made the transitions unnecessarily painful and costly. The book suggests answers to the following questions: How should basic economic theory as taught in introductory economics courses be revised in light of the failure of market-oriented economics to effect a successful transition in so many former communist economies? Could the theory be revised and presented in a different manner? How can basic economic theory be used to help explain the past failures in understanding transition problems and to avoid future mistakes? This volume is a "must read" for all who teach economics or apply economics to the real world.
Download or read book China s Search for Energy Security written by Suisheng Zhao and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-11 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China’s rapid economic growth in the recent decades has produced an unprecedented energy vulnerability that could threaten the sustainability of its economic development, a linchpin to social stability and ultimately the regime legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as well as the foundation for China's rising power aspirations. What is the Chinese perception of the energy security and challenges, how has the Chinese government responded to the challenges? What are the international implications of China’s search for energy security? This collection of contributions by leading scholars seeks answers to these extremely important questions. The book is divided into three parts. Part I presents an overview of China’s sense of energy security and its strategic responses. Part II examines China’s energy policy-making processes, the efforts to reform and reorganize the energy sector and reset policy priorities Part III focuses on the international implications of China’s search for energy security. This book consists of articles published in the Journal of Contemporary China.
Download or read book Fiscal Policy Convergence from Reagan to Blair written by Arthur T. Denzau and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-10-30 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book charts the rise of consensus politics over the last two decades that has seen Republican and Conservative economic policy under Reagan, Bush, Thatcher and Major change little with Democrat and 'New' Labour under Clinton and Blair.
Download or read book Rational Lives written by Dennis Chong and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Those who study value conflicts have resisted rational choice approaches in the social sciences, contending that political conflict over cultural values is best explained by group loyalties, symbolic motives, and other "nonrational" factors. However, Chong shows that a single model can explain how people make decisions across both social and economic realms. He argues that our preferences result from a combination of psychological dispositions, which are shaped by social influences and developed over the life span. Chong's book yields insights about the circumstances under which preferences, beliefs, values, norms and group identifications are formed. It offers a provocative explanation of how ingrained social norms and values can change over time despite the forces maintaining the status quo. "Going beyond the tired polemics on both sides, [Chong] constructs a new interpretation of human behavior in which culture and individual rationality both matter. The synthesis is a more comprehensive and powerful explanatory framework than either side could have produced, and Chong's creativity should influence subsequent interpretations of our social life in fundamental ways."—Christopher H. Achen, University of Michigan
Download or read book The Priority of Democracy written by Jack Knight and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-22 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why democracy is the best way of deciding how decisions should be made Pragmatism and its consequences are central issues in American politics today, yet scholars rarely examine in detail the relationship between pragmatism and politics. In The Priority of Democracy, Jack Knight and James Johnson systematically explore the subject and make a strong case for adopting a pragmatist approach to democratic politics—and for giving priority to democracy in the process of selecting and reforming political institutions. What is the primary value of democracy? When should we make decisions democratically and when should we rely on markets? And when should we accept the decisions of unelected officials, such as judges or bureaucrats? Knight and Johnson explore how a commitment to pragmatism should affect our answers to such important questions. They conclude that democracy is a good way of determining how these kinds of decisions should be made—even if what the democratic process determines is that not all decisions should be made democratically. So, for example, the democratically elected U.S. Congress may legitimately remove monetary policy from democratic decision-making by putting it under the control of the Federal Reserve. Knight and Johnson argue that pragmatism offers an original and compelling justification of democracy in terms of the unique contributions democratic institutions can make to processes of institutional choice. This focus highlights the important role that democracy plays, not in achieving consensus or commonality, but rather in addressing conflicts. Indeed, Knight and Johnson suggest that democratic politics is perhaps best seen less as a way of reaching consensus or agreement than as a way of structuring the terms of persistent disagreement.
Download or read book Democratic Governance written by Mark Bevir and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-26 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratic Governance examines the changing nature of the modern state and reveals the dangers these changes pose to democracy. Mark Bevir shows how new ideas about governance have gradually displaced old-style notions of government in Britain and around the world. Policymakers cling to outdated concepts of representative government while at the same time placing ever more faith in expertise, markets, and networks. Democracy exhibits blurred lines of accountability and declining legitimacy. Bevir explores how new theories of governance undermined traditional government in the twentieth century. Politicians responded by erecting great bureaucracies, increasingly relying on policy expertise and abstract notions of citizenship and, more recently, on networks of quasi-governmental and private organizations to deliver services using market-oriented techniques. Today, the state is an unwieldy edifice of nineteenth-century government buttressed by a sprawling substructure devoted to the very different idea of governance--and democracy has suffered. In Democratic Governance, Bevir takes a comprehensive look at governance and the history and thinking behind it. He provides in-depth case studies of constitutional reform, judicial reform, joined-up government, and police reform. He argues that the best hope for democratic renewal lies in more interpretive styles of expertise, dialogic forms of policymaking, and more diverse avenues for public participation.
Download or read book Time Matters written by Andrew Abbott and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2001-07-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do variables really tell us? When exactly do inventions occur? Why do we always miss turning points as they transpire? When does what doesn't happen mean as much, if not more, than what does? Andrew Abbott considers these fascinating questions in Time Matters, a diverse series of essays that constitutes the most extensive analysis of temporality in social science today. Ranging from abstract theoretical reflection to pointed methodological critique, Abbott demonstrates the inevitably theoretical character of any methodology. Time Matters focuses particularly on questions of time, events, and causality. Abbott grounds each essay in straightforward examinations of actual social scientific analyses. Throughout, he demonstrates the crucial assumptions we make about causes and events, about actors and interaction and about time and meaning every time we employ methods of social analysis, whether in academic disciplines, market research, public opinion polling, or even evaluation research. Turning current assumptions on their heads, Abbott not only outlines the theoretical orthodoxies of empirical social science, he sketches new alternatives, laying down foundations for a new body of social theory.
Download or read book The Cunning of Reason written by Martin Hollis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a philosophers' attempt to bring together ideas put forward by economists, sociologists and political theorists. The author begins by exploring the economist's assumption that action is rational if it helps to achieve the agent's goals as efficiently as possible. The assumption is explored with the aid of rational-choice theory and game-theory, but it is rejected in the end for failing to account for the elements of trust and morality which rational social life requires. A discussion of 'Rational Expectations' and of 'maximising' and 'satisficing' leads to a portrait of social actors as rational role-players. Rationality is, finally, the expression of the self in a social world. The book intervenes in intense current debates within and among several disciplines. Its concern is with the true nature of social actors and the proper character of social science. Its arguments are the more challenging for being presented in a simple, incisive and lucid prose. It will be of particular interest to philosophers, social theorists and social scientists interested in the philosophical aspects of their discipline.
Download or read book Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics written by Morris Altman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-01-30 with total page 785 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when both scholars and the public demand explanations and answers to key economic problems that conventional approaches have failed to resolve, this groundbreaking handbook of original works by leading behavioral economists offers the first comprehensive articulation of behavioral economics theory. Borrowing from the findings of psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, legal scholars, and biologists, among others, behavioral economists find that intelligent individuals often tend not to behave as effectively or efficiently in their economic decisions as long held by conventional wisdom. The manner in which individuals actually do behave critically depends on psychological, institutional, cultural, and even biological considerations. "Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics" includes coverage of such critical areas as the Economic Agent, Context and Modeling, Decision Making, Experiments and Implications, Labor Issues, Household and Family Issues, Life and Death, Taxation, Ethical Investment and Tipping, and Behavioral Law and Macroeconomics. Each contribution includes an extensive bibliography.
Download or read book Handbook of Research on Technoethics written by Luppicini, Rocci and published by IGI Global. This book was released on 2008-08-31 with total page 1082 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book traces the emergence of the new interdisciplinary field of technoethics by exploring its conceptual development, important issues, and key areas of current research. Compiling 50 authoritative articles from leading researchers on the ethical dimensions of new technologies"--Provided by publisher.
