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.
S. M. Amadae is a research fellow in the Office for History of Science and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments Introduction Prologue: Schumpeter, Hayek, and Popper
Part I. Rational Policy Analysis and the National Security State Chapter 1. Managing the National Security State: Decision Technologies and Policy Science
Part II. Rational Choice Theory in American Social Science Chapter 2. Kenneth J. Arrow's Social Choice and Individual Values Chapter 3. James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock's Public Choice Theory Chapter 4. William Riker's Positive Political Theory Chapter 5. Rational Choice and Capitalist Democracy
Part III. Antecedents to Rational Choice Theory Chapter 6. Adam Smith's System of Natural Liberty Chapter 7. Rational Mechanics, Marginalist Economics, and Rational Choice
Part IV. Rational Choice Liberalism Today Chapter 8. Consolidating Rational Choice Liberalism, 1970-2000
Epilogue: From the Panopticon to the Prisoner's Dilemma Notes Bibliography Index