IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ratsoc/v5y1993i1p32-46.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Limits of Rational Choice

Author

Listed:
  • ILJA SRUBAR

    (University of Constance Translation by Allison Wetterlin and Thomas Luckmann)

Abstract

Hartmut Esser states an extensive correspondence of rational choice theory and Alfred Schütz's interpretative sociology. He postulates the possibility of explaining everyday behavior using a rational choice (RC) approach that is “relaxed†by employment of actors' subjective knowledge. My comment traces the stated correspondence to its origins in Schütz's work and points out the limits of the RC model that emerge from Schütz's discussion of Ludwig von Mises' theory of action: Although the RC approach recognizes that the conditions of action are selected by actors' subjective stock of knowledge, it does not offer any theoretical explanation for the social constitution of this knowledge, nor for the selectivity of its everyday structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Ilja Srubar, 1993. "On the Limits of Rational Choice," Rationality and Society, , vol. 5(1), pages 32-46, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:5:y:1993:i:1:p:32-46
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463193005001004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1043463193005001004
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1043463193005001004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hartmut Esser, 1993. "The Rationality of Everyday Behavior," Rationality and Society, , vol. 5(1), pages 7-31, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christian Lüdemann, 1998. "Framing And Choice Of Transportation Mode:," Rationality and Society, , vol. 10(2), pages 253-270, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christopher Prendergast, 1993. "Rationality, Optimality, and Choice," Rationality and Society, , vol. 5(1), pages 47-57, January.
    2. Gebhard Kirchgässner, 2015. "Wissenschaftlicher Fortschritt in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Einige Bemerkungen," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 135(2), pages 209-248.
    3. Daniel Weimar & Christoph Breuer, 2022. "Against the mainstream: Field evidence on a positive link between media consumption and the demand for sports among children," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(2), pages 317-336, May.
    4. Annette Schnabel, 2006. "What Makes Collective Goods a Shared Concern?," Rationality and Society, , vol. 18(1), pages 5-34, February.
    5. Kroneberg, Clemens, 2006. "The definition of the situation and variable rationality : the model of frame selection as a general theory of action," Papers 06-05, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    6. Koppl, Roger & Whitman, Douglas Glen, 2004. "Rational-choice hermeneutics," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 295-317, November.
    7. Lee, Yongsung & Guhathakurta, Subhrajit, 2018. "An analysis of the effects of suburban densification on vehicle use for shopping: Do existing residents respond to land-use changes in the same way as recent movers?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 193-204.
    8. Sebastian Hoffmann & Fabian Adelt & Johannes Weyer, 2020. "Modelling End-User Behavior and Behavioral Change in Smart Grids. An Application of the Model of Frame Selection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-26, December.
    9. Koppl, Roger G., 1996. "It is high time we take our ignorance more seriously," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 259-272.
    10. Kroneberg, Clemens, 2005. "Die Definition der Situation und die variable Rationalität der Akteure. Ein allgemeines Modell des Handelns auf der Basis von Hartmut Essers Frame-Selektionstheorie," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 05-11, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    11. Mie Augier, 1999. "Some Notes on Alfred Schütz and the Austrian School of Economics: Review of Alfred Schütz's Collected Papers, Vol. IV. Edited by H. Wagner, G. Psathas and F. Kersten (1996)," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 145-162, January.
    12. Beckert, Jens, 1999. "Economic Action and Embeddedness: The Problem of the Structure of Action," Center for Culture, Organizations and Politics, Working Paper Series qt6jc6f1q6, Center for Culture, Organizations and Politics of theInstitute for Research on Labor and Employment, UC Berkeley.
    13. Kroneberg, Clemens, 2005. "Die Definition der Situation und die variable Rationalität der Akteure : ein allgemeines Modell des Handelns auf der Basis von Hartmut Essers Frame-Selektionstheorie," Papers 05-11, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    14. Joachim Scheiner & Christian Holz-Rau, 2013. "Changes in travel mode use after residential relocation: a contribution to mobility biographies," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 431-458, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:5:y:1993:i:1:p:32-46. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.