Rational Choice and Political Irrationality in the New Millennium

Bibliographic Data

ID6252228
AuthorsTom Hoffman (corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume27
Issue3-4
Pages299-315
Publication date2015-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCritical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0891-3811 • E-ISSN: 1933-8007
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/08913811.2015.1111679
OpenAlexW2264597986
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited5

Ilya Somin's Democracy and Political Ignorance uses a by-now familiar rational-choice lens with which to explain and analyze Americans’ widespread political ignorance. Unlike some scholars who tout rational choice on purely predictive or heuristic grounds, Somin claims that it also offers a more accurate description of reality, in this case better explaining the findings of empirical public-opinion research. In this essay, I compare Somin's central concept of rational ignorance and the related concept of “rational irrationality” with the earlier explanatory approach taken by Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter in his classic study, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. While Schumpeter developed his description of the mass democratic citizenry over 70 years ago—prior to any of the significant empirical studies of American public opinion—its broad approach remains at least as persuasive as Somin's

Capitalism · Democracy · Economics · Epistemology · Ignorance · Irrationality · Keynesian economics · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Public opinion · Rational choice theory (criminology · Rational expectations · Rationality · Sociology · Economic Theory and Institutions · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Philosophy

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