ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses conceptual model and presents the question: is there room for a preference-based approach to rational action in Constructivist thought? The rational choice program’s commitment to Methodological Individualism, reliance on exogenously formed preferences, rejection of interpersonal comparison of utility, and exclusively egotistical definitions of utility have rendered many of the findings tautological and trivial. The Constructivist critique of rational choice has varied over the years but has settled on three key themes. First among these is critique that rational choice methods are based on Methodological Individualism to the exclusion of any significant social variables. The second common theme in the Constructivist critique is that utility in rational choice theory is defined in strictly self-interested, egoist terms. The third common theme in the Constructivist critique is that rational choice theory has no endogenous theory of preference formation. In essence, rational choice requires the ability to identify the option that is perceived to be the best versus all the others.
