Sociological Theory and Rational

Rational choice or action theory may be understood as one possible interpretation of Weber's program, though it must be said a rather special one in that it invites us to adopt the least complex conception of social action that we can analytically get away with in arriving at a "causal explanation of its course and effects." It thus departs from many post-Weberian (and for that matter pre-Weberian) theoretical traditions particularly those of a phenomenological persuasion where the purpose seems to tilt in an entirely opposing direction, namely to find ways of conceiving (social) actions which are locally detailed and complex. Why it should be that rational choice theory adopts this heterodox standpoint will detain us below.