Symbolic Interests and Meaningful Purposes

Conceiving Rational Choice as Cultural Theory

Bibliographic Data

ID5917366
AuthorsEric H Rambo, Eric Rambo (corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume11
Issue3
Pages317-342
Publication date1999-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRationality and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1043-4631 • E-ISSN: 1461-7358
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/104346399011003003
OpenAlexW2143526061
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited33

Rational choice theory and cultural sociology have often seemed to be radically at odds with one another. As the two traditions become more sophisticated, however, points of convergence are beginning to appear. It now seems possible to create a partial synthesis. Although rational choice theory has had very little to say about culture, we can conceive of symbolic process and structure through the framework of purposive action. Borrowing core concepts from James Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory, we can think of actors' interpretation and intention of meaning as the exercise of control over symbolic resources. Actors have means- and ends-interests in symbolism. From the intersection of this interested control emerge cultural structures that are real conditions of interaction. Identifying these cultural structures and tracing the process of their emergence is one way to conceive the project of cultural sociology. In addition to conceptual clarity such a synthesis provides the orienting principle of a social optimum

CLARITY · Epistemology · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of culture · Symbolic convergence theory · Symbolic interactionism · The Symbolic · Computer Science · Globalization and Cultural Identity · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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