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Those who study value conflicts have resisted rational choice approaches in the social sciences, contending that political conflict over cultural values is best explained by group loyalties, symbolic motives, and other "nonrational" factors. However, Chong shows that a single model can explain how people make decisions across both social and economic realms. He argues that our preferences result from a combination of psychological dispositions, which are shaped by social influences and developed over the life span.Chong's book yields insights about the circumstances under which preferences, be

Dennis Chong is professor of political science at Northwestern University.

"Competitive Framing in Political Decision Making" published on by Oxford University Press.

Contribution to a special journal issue entitled "Rational Choice Theory & Politics" (see related abstracts in SA 44:1). Although rational choice theory has enjoyed only modest predictive success, it provides a powerful explanatory mechanism for social processes involving strategic interaction among individuals, & it stimulates interesting empirical inquiries. Rather than present competing theories to compare against rational choice, Donald P. Green & Ian Shapiro (1984) have merely alluded to alternative explanatory variables, eg, culture, institutions, & social norms, without showing either how these factors can be incorporated into a more powerful theory, or how they are inconsistent with rational choice theory. It is likely that any eventual theory of the origin & maintenance of social institutions, norms, & values will have to reserve a central place for rational action. Adapted from the source document.

Tolerance does not depend entirely on the generosity of those who are willing to restrain themselves from punishing & repressing those who deviate from society's norms. Rather it depends also on the ability of people to assuage fears & anxieties & to reconcile themselves to social change. Because people are able to adapt psychologically to change in norms & practices, increases in tolerance are not necessarily accompanied by increases in self-restraint, social strain, or tension. Several illustrations of social adjustment regarding, eg, political, racial, & religious issues, are presented, as is a more exact dynamic model of how this process works. 56 References. Adapted from the source document.