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Within a brief compass, Jon Elster covers a vast range of topics. Its point of departure is the conflict we all face between our desires and our opportunities. How can rational-choice theory help us understand our motivation and behavior? More significantly, what happens when the theory breaks down but we still cleave to a belief in the power of the rational? Elster describes the fascinating range of forms of irrationality - wishful thinking, the phenomenon of sour grapes, discounting the future in noncooperative behavior. He shows how these issues bear very directly upon our lives in such concrete situations as wage bargaining, economic cartels, political strikes, voting in elections, and court decisions involving child custody. This is a remarkably lucid and comprehensive introduction to the social sciences for students of political science, philosophy, sociology, and economics. It will also prove fascinating to any nonacademic readers who want to understand a little better the forces governing human behavior in its social context. |
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