rational choice theory
rational choice theoryA theory of action that sees individual self-interest as the fundamental human motive and traces all social activities back to acts of rational calculation and decision-making that are supposed to have produced them. Such theories can be traced at least as far back as the classical political economy of the 18th century, the most familiar example being Adam Smith's theory of the division of labour, expounded at the start of The Wealth of Nations (1776). According to Smith, the hidden hand of the free market leads prudent self-interested individuals to promote the public welfare, even though that was never their intention. The modern discipline of economics, which grew out of political economy, has developed a highly abstract and increasingly mathematical version of this theory, according to which prices and the allocation of...
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