ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book discusses the relationship between rational choice theory and economics. It provides an historical and analytical survey of the concept of rationality within the discipline of economics. The book explains that all rationalist work is economic, and that resistance to rational choice is strictly directed at maintaining the integrity of other social science disciplines against economic “imperialism”. It focuses on disentangle economic theory and method in order to consider the possibility that there is rationalist work in the social sciences that is not economic. The book examines a central intellectual problem in neoclassical economics–the existence of competitive equilibrium–in light of the innovations in method that reflect the mathematization of rationality. It is concerns how rational choice theory might complement other theories, particularly in political sociology.
