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A DESIGN OF NORMATIVE SOCIOLOGY BASED ON THE RATIONAL CHOICE PARADIGM
Author(s) -
Todoroki Makoto
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
international journal of japanese sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.133
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1475-6781
pISSN - 0918-7545
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6781.1998.tb00058.x
Subject(s) - normative , sociology , epistemology , rational choice theory (criminology) , value (mathematics) , order (exchange) , mathematical sociology , social science , computer science , philosophy , economics , criminology , finance , machine learning
In this paper, I metatheoretically examine a design of normative sociology. Normative sociology is the normative‐scientific study in sociology. The substance of normative science is the conceptual examination of values or value judgments. According to Coleman (1974) and Faran, (1989) et al., sociologists should contribute to normative science by using ideas from general sociological theory. There is a useful traditional enterprise for this aim in sociology; that is the study of the problem of order, particularly the study of it based on the rational choice paradigm. Seiyama (1992) points to the limits of the rational choice paradigm. I propose three aims of social theory, and claim that the study of the problem of order based on this paradigm is useful when our purpose is normative model‐building. I call the problem of order as a subject of the study for this purpose “the value‐theoretical problem of order.” This examination can clear up some of the theoretical confusion surrounding the problem of order and show the methodological basis of normative sociology based on the rational choice paradigm.