Social - Self - Interest by Colin Ash

Abstract This paper is about rational sociality. Retaining rational choice as its basic framework, it aims to enrich it by taking seriously a well-established cultural, social and psychological phenomenon: that some inter-personal relationships have intrinsic value. These are termed primary. Because of the risk of adverse instrumental outcomes, agents offer primary relationships on certain terms and conditions. Whether or not these supply prices are accepted depends on the social-self-interest of the tentative partner. Norms, etc. therefore result from rational choice. The model encompasses standard economic choice theory as a special case, while explicitly recognising that self-interested agents make choices that are sometimes group dependent. Methodologically, it offers an alternative to ‘individualism versus collectivism’.