Howconceptualproblemsmigrate
Rational Choice, Interpretation, and the Hazards of Pluralism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5793012 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James D Johnson (0000-0001-6681-032X, University of Rochester), James Turner Johnson (0000-0003-3555-169X, University of Rochester, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 223-248 |
| Publication date | 2002-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annual Review of Political Science (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1094-2939 • E-ISSN: 1545-1577 |
| Publisher | Annual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1146/annurev.polisci.5.112801.080933 |
| OpenAlex | W2118359122 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 37 |
| References cited | 64 |
When they assess competing theories, political scientists typically rely almost exclusively and rather naively on criteria of empirical performance. They have correspondingly little to say about conceptual problems and seem generally unaware of the extent to which their assessments of empirical performance are parasitic on conceptual commitments. This blind spot, in turn, hinders their ability both to persuasively conduct and critically assess substantive research. I call attention to the importance and complexity of conceptual problems for ongoing social and political research. As a vehicle for this argument, I examine and criticize recent attempts to integrate interpretive and rational choice theories in hopes of improving our understanding of how culture and politics intersect. I argue that these efforts are plagued by important, mostly unrecognized conceptual problems that, in turn, subvert their explicitly stated explanatory objectives. I also show, in light of this same example, how conceptual problems unintentionally can frustrate laudable pluralist aspirations. This essay illustrates why, if we take conceptual problems seriously, calls for methodological and theoretical pluralism are significantly more demanding than they often appear
Argument (complex analysis · Conceptual framework · Empirical research · Pluralism · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Religion and Society Interactions
The Formation of Beliefs
Eclectic Theorizing in the Study and Practice of International Relations
Area Studies/Asian Studies
Being undisciplined. On Your Marx
Political Science/Political Theory
Area Studies/Asian Studies
Anthropology
Philosophy and Critical Realism
Philosophy and Standpoint Theory
Sociology
Sociology and Economics
Neurological imaging as evidence in political science
Between Political Inquiry and Democratic Faith
Examining Historical Representations
Tracing Causal Mechanisms
Translating Terminologies
Moving Beyond the Agent?Structure Debate
Our Dream is a World Full of Poverty Indicators
Aggregation, Evaluation, and Social Choice Theory
Evolving political science
Explaining Japanese Antimilitarism
Acts of dissent in the global crisis of democracy
Systems and Mechanisms
International Institutions and Socialization in Europe
Constructing the International Foundations of E-Commerce—The EU-U.S. Safe Harbor Arrangement
Mechanisms in the Analysis of Social Macro-Phenomena
What Rationality Assumption? or, How ‘Positive Political Theory’ Rests on a Mistake
Analytic Eclecticism in the Study of World Politics
When Multi-Method Research Subverts Methodological Pluralism—or, Why We Still Need Single-Method Research
Conceptual Problems as Obstacles to Progress in Political Science
A rationalist-institutionalist explanation of endogenous regional integration1
Consequences of Positivism
Why Social Relations Matter for Politics and Successful Societies
Scholarship on South Africa’s Foreign Policy Behaviour
The power of words
Why Comparative Politics Should Take Religion (More) Seriously
A Pragmatist Theory of Social Mechanisms
Designing Social Inquiry
Mechanisms and structures in comparisons
Social Mechanisms
The Symbolic Construction of Community
Game Theory and Economic Modelling
Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences
Political Psychology
Institutions and Social Conflict
Alchemies of the Mind
The Rational Peasant
Corporate culture and economic theory
The Interpretation of Cultures
An evolutionary theory of economic change
Ritual, politics, and power
Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance
Essays in Social Theory
Philosophy and the Human Sciences
Rational Choice and Social Theory
The Politics of Interpretation
The Symbolic Construction of Community
Economics and Identity
The Economic Approach to Human Behavior
The Nature of Rationality
The Politics of Interpretation
Can the Rational Choice Framework Cope with Culture
Geertz's Ambiguous Legacy
How Not to Criticize Rational Choice Theory
The Conditions of Fruitfulness of Theorizing About Mechanisms in Social Science
On the scope and limits of generalizations in the social sciences
Conceptual problems re-visited
Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society
Essays on the Foundations of Game Theory
Essays on the Foundations of Game Theory
Theories of Social Change
Game Theory and Comparative Politics
Political Goals and Procedural Choice in the Senate
Rational Choice and Politics
The Foundations of Eclecticism
Leadership and Its Basis in Problems of Social Coordination
Social Choice Theory, Game Theory, and Positive Political Theory
Why Respect Culture
On the Value of Game Theory in Social Science
Mechanisms in Political Processes
States and Social Revolutions
Culture in Action
Explaining Interethnic Cooperation
Disciplining Political Science
Varieties of rationality, varieties of emotion
Imagination and power
The Cement of Society
Science and Relativism
Culture
Theory in Anthropology since the Sixties
States and Social Revolutions
The rational peasant
| Unique citing works | 37 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,61 |
| Citation span | 2003 - 2025 (23) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 37 |