In Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy, S. M. Amadae tells the remarkable story of how rational choice theory rose from obscurity to become the intellectual bulwark of capitalist democracy. Amadae roots Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy in the turbulent post-World War II era, showing how rational choice theory grew out of the RAND Corporation's efforts to develop a "science" of military and policy decisionmaking. But while the first generation of rational choice theorists—William Riker, Kenneth Arrow, and James Buchanan—were committed to constructing a "scientific" approach to social science research, they were also deeply committed to defending American democracy from its Marxist critics. Amadae reveals not only how the ideological battles of the Cold War shaped their ideas but also how those ideas may today be undermining the very notion of individual liberty they were created to defend.
FREE Two-Day Shipping for students on millions of items. Learn more |
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"A most interesting examination of the evolution of rational choice theory within economics, political science, and philosophy, and she describes as well how its emergence fits into the intellectual politics of the cold war era. The depth of reading and analysis is most impressive . . . Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy is an excellent work of research and a useful, engaging presentation of ideas. It will repay reading by all economists, historians, and political scientists interested in the development of ideology."--Business History Review
(Stanley L. Engerman Business History Review )"This book should be widely consulted by anyone working in the field of social policy today. This is an engaging and important book ."--Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare
(James Midgley Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare )"The difficult texts in the canon of rational choice theory are discussed with clarity and insight. For those who want to know this intellectual history, this is the book to read. . . . That rational choice provided a foundation for some Cold War liberals is important and worth understanding. This book provides the means for such understanding."
(Michael Coulter Journal of Markets and Morality )“[Amadae] explains how the RAND Corporation''s systems analysis and rational policy analysis became normative standards in governmental decision making. There are arresting insights into the whole ensemble of defense establishment leaders and institutions. . . . This is . . . a sophisticated, substantive, and balanced interpretation. Readers will come away from this book with a nuanced and enhanced understanding of many vital and enduring themes in contemporary political thought. This is an exemplary study in modern intellectual history. It is well positioned to reconfigure the contours of the rational choice theory landscape and its legacy.”—Frank Annunziata, Journal of American History
(Frank Annunziata Journal of American History )
From the Inside Flap
In Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy, S. M. Amadae tells the remarkable story of how rational choice theory rose from obscurity to become the intellectual bulwark of capitalist democracy. Amadae roots Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy in the turbulent post-World War II era, showing how rational choice theory grew out of the RAND Corporation's efforts to develop a "science" of military and policy decisionmaking. But while the first generation of rational choice theorists—William Riker, Kenneth Arrow, and James Buchanan—were committed to constructing a "scientific" approach to social science research, they were also deeply committed to defending American democracy from its Marxist critics. Amadae reveals not only how the ideological battles of the Cold War shaped their ideas but also how those ideas may today be undermining the very notion of individual liberty they were created to defend.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Jeremy Bentham was the founder of rational choice theory and it was never obscure,
By Michael Emmett Brady "mandmbrady" (Bellflower, California ,United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism (Paperback)
The author apparently forgot what he had written on pp.258-265 and 290-292 of his own book.His analysis on these pages correctly demonstrates that it was Jeremy Bentham who was the founder of rational choice theory.However, Bentham's approach was never obscure or fell from grace.Bentham's utility maximization approach was the core of neoclassical economics from 1870 to the present.Bentham was the first to argue that all decision makers can calculate the odds of the set of different,possible alternative courses of action and pick out the best probable one .Bentham's main students,J B Say,David Ricardo,James Mill,and Nassau Senior,all based their work on Bentham's 1787 work that directly challenged the virtue ethics approach of Adam Smith.The author's belief, that rational choice theory was rescued from oblivion by researchers working at the Rand Corporation starting in the 1940's, overlooks D Ellsberg's early 1960's work ,carried out at Rand ,that recognized,like Keynes had some 50 years before,that the rational choice approach is a special theory.
Bentham's approach was reinterpreted and updated technically ,using more advanced mathematics, by Frank P Ramsey,Bruno De Finetti,and J L Savage.A von Neumann -Morgenstern utility function was later incorporated.The end result was the Subjective Expected Utility (SEU) approach ,based on linearity and additivity.The author could have provided an effective critique of SEU had he been aware that J M Keynes had already demonstrated ,in both his A Treatise on Probability in 1921 and his 1909 Cambridge Fellowship Thesis of 1909,that the general case was one of non additivity and non linearity.SEU is a special case only.SEU can't deal with non-additivity or non linearity.It can never be anything more than a special theory at best.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive Account of Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Theory,
By
This review is from: Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism (Paperback)
Amadae has written a scholarly book that is inviting, informative, and thoroughly researched. Prof. Amadae has a broad command of this subject matter. If you are interested in the history of 20th-century political economy, this is a must-read. Highly recommended.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
DURING the decade since the sudden and dramatic collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, two aspects of the West's triumph have been predominant in our understanding. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
collective decisionmaking procedures, rational decision technologies, rational defense management, rational choice liberalism, rational choice canon, welfare economics tradition, rational policy analysis, defense rationalists, public choice scholarship, rational choice scholarship, marginalist economics, rationality project, positive political theory, marginalist economists, public choice movement, new welfare economics, budget constraint sets, rational choice theorists, rational choice theory, social welfare economics, impossibility theorem, social choice theory, welfare economists, facto legitimacy, social choice function Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Adam Smith, New York, Air Force, Ford Foundation, United States, Soviet Union, Gaither Report, Kenneth Arrow, World War, Amartya Sen, Harvard University Press, Mancur Olson, Gordon Tullock, William Riker, Anthony Downs, Planning Programming Budgeting, Paretian Liberal, University of Rochester, Henry Ford, Charles Hitch, Foreign Relations, Rowan Gaither, Stanford University, Clarendon Press, John von Neumann New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
DURING the decade since the sudden and dramatic collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, two aspects of the West's triumph have been predominant in our understanding. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
collective decisionmaking procedures, rational decision technologies, rational defense management, rational choice liberalism, rational choice canon, welfare economics tradition, rational policy analysis, defense rationalists, public choice scholarship, rational choice scholarship, marginalist economics, rationality project, positive political theory, marginalist economists, public choice movement, new welfare economics, budget constraint sets, rational choice theorists, rational choice theory, social welfare economics, impossibility theorem, social choice theory, welfare economists, facto legitimacy, social choice function Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Adam Smith, New York, Air Force, Ford Foundation, United States, Soviet Union, Gaither Report, Kenneth Arrow, World War, Amartya Sen, Harvard University Press, Mancur Olson, Gordon Tullock, William Riker, Anthony Downs, Planning Programming Budgeting, Paretian Liberal, University of Rochester, Henry Ford, Charles Hitch, Foreign Relations, Rowan Gaither, Stanford University, Clarendon Press, John von Neumann New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
2
books
cite this book:
- Buddhism in the Public Sphere: Reorienting Global Interdependence (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism) by Peter D. Hershock in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Blind Oracles: Intellectuals and War from Kennan to Kissinger by Bruce Kuklick on page 65
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
