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Why Self-Interest Means Less Outside of a Social Context

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  • Aaron Wildavsky

Abstract

Rational choice theories could be improved, their scope broadened, and their explanations made more powerful by asking not only `How do people go about getting what they know they want?' but also `Why do people want what they want in the first place?'. The advantages of combining a theory of goal direction, which is the operational base of rational choice, and a theory of preference formation are manifold: a monistic conception of cause as self-interest is replaced by a pluralistic conception of culture allowing for a variety of motives for action; master objectives, which play out over a sequence of moves, supersede immediate objectives that cover only the next act; concentration on how institutional rules influence incentives, though valuable in and of itself, gives way to a parallel consideration of how individuals shape institutions; and the overwhelming concentration on material self-interest, which discomforts so many social scientists who might otherwise be well disposed to rational choice explanations, opens up into a diversity of selves who construct a variety of interests in the service of different ways of life (or cultures).

Suggested Citation

  • Aaron Wildavsky, 1994. "Why Self-Interest Means Less Outside of a Social Context," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 6(2), pages 131-159, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:6:y:1994:i:2:p:131-159
    DOI: 10.1177/0951692894006002001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. J. Scott Carter & Mamadi Corra & Shannon K. Carter, 2009. "The Interaction of Race and Gender: Changing Gender‐Role Attitudes, 1974–2006," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(1), pages 196-211, March.

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