RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY AS SOCIAL PHYSICS

Donald Green and Ian Shapiro discover a curious gulf between the prest ige of rational choice approaches and the dearth of solid empirical fi ndings. But we can understand neither the prestige of rational choice theory nor its pathologies unless we see it as a variant of the equili brium analysis found in physics, economics, and biology. Only such a g lobal perspective on rational choice cheery will reveal its core assum ptions and the likely shape of its future in political science. In thi s light, the growing dominance of rational choice theory in political science is all but inevitable and its pathologies are all but inescapa ble.