Uses and limits of the rational choice theory of religion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-20702008000200003Keywords:
Rationality, Religious Economies, Market, Pluralism, StrictnessAbstract
This aim of this article is to present and analyze the main theoretical conceptions proposed by Rodney Stark, Roger Finke and Laurence Iannaccone, formulators of the rational choice theory of religion. Without aiming to be exhaustive, it focuses on their theory's innovations and limitations and the theoretical debate provoked in its wake, examining the notions of rationality, state deregulation of religion, monopoly, pluralism, competition, market, supply, demand and 'strictness.'Downloads
References
ABRAMOVAY, Ricardo. (2004), “Entre Deus e o Diabo: mercados e interação humana nas Ciências Sociais”. Tempo Social –Revista de Sociologia da USP, 16 (2): 35-64.
BAERT, Patrick. (1997), “Algumas limitações das explicações da escolha racional na Ciência Política e na Sociologia”. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, 12 (35): 63-74.
BERGER, Peter L. (1985), O dossel sagrado: elementos para uma sociologia da religião. São Paulo, Paulinas.
BRUCE, Steve. (1999), Choice and religion: a critique of rational choice theory. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
BRUCE, Steve. (2000), “The supply-side model of religion: the Nordic and Baltic States”. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 13 (1): 32-46.
BUYUKOKUTAN, Baris. (2006), “Evaluating rational choice theories of religion”. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, disponível em http://www.allacademic.com/meta/ p103187_index.html, consultado em 01/7/2008.
CHAVES, Mark & GORSKI, Philip S. (1995), “On the rational choice approach to religion”. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 34 (1): 98-104.
CHAVES, Mark & GORSKI, Philip S. (2001), “Religious pluralism and religious participation”. Annual Review of Sociology, 27: 261-281.
COLLINS, Randall. (1993), “Book review of A Theory of religion, by Rodney Stark and Williams Sims Bainbridge”. Journal for the Scientific Study or Religion, 32 (4):402-406.
COLLINS, Randall. (1997), “Stark and Bainbridge, Durkheim and Weber: theoretical comparisons”. In: YOUNG, Lawrence A.(org.), Rational choice theory and religion: summary and assessment. Nova York, Routledge, pp. 161-180.
FERNANDES, Rubem César. (1998), Novo nascimento: os evangélicos em casa, na igreja e na política. Rio de Janeiro, Maud.
FINKE, Roger. (1997), “The consequences of religious competition: supply-side explanations for religious change”. In: YOUNG, Lawrence A. (org.), Rational choice theory and religion: summary and assessment. Nova York, Routledge, pp. 45-64.
FINKE, Roger & STARK, Rodney. (1988), “Religious economies and sacred canopies: religious mobilization in American cities, 1906”. American Sociological Review, 53: 41-49.
FONSECA, Alexandre Brasil. (1997), Evangélicos e mídia no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro. Dissertação de mestrado em Sociologia. Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Sociais, da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
FRIEDBERG, Erhard. (1993), O poder e a regra: dinâmicas da ação organizada. Lisboa, Instituto Piaget.
FRIGERIO, Alejandro. (2000), “Teorias econômicas aplicadas ao estudo da religião: em direção a um novo paradigma?”. BIB – Revista Brasileira de Informação Bibliográfica em Ciências Sociais, 50: 125-143, Rio de Janeiro.
HADAWAY, C. K, MARLER, P. L. & CHAVES, M. (1998), “Overreporting church attendance in America: evidence that demands the same verdict”. American Sociological Review, 63 (1): 122-130.
IANNACCONE, Laurence R. (1994), “Why strict churches are strong”. American Journal of Sociology, 99: 1180-1211.
IANNACCONE, Laurence R. 1995, “Voodoo economics? Reviewing the rational choice approach to religion”. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 34 (1): 76-89.
IANNACCONE, Laurence R. (1997), “Rational choice: framework for the scientific study of religion”. In: YOUNG, Lawrence A. (org.), Rational choice theory and religion: summary and assessment. Nova York, Routledge, pp. 25-44.
IANNACCONE, Laurence, FINKE, Roger & STARK, Rodney. (1997), “Deregulating religion: the economics of church and state”. Economic Inquiry, 35: 350-364.
JEROLMACK, Colin. (2004), “Religion, rationality, and experience: a response to the new rational choice theory of religion”. Sociological Theory, 22 (1): 140-160.
KELLEY, Dean M. (1986), Why conservative churches are growing. Georgia, Mercer University Press.
MARIANO, Ricardo. (2001), Análise sociológica do crescimento pentecostal no Brasil. Tese de doutorado. Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo.
MELLOR, Philip A. (2000), “Rational choice or sacred contagion? ‘Rationality’, ‘nonrationality’ and religion”. Social Compass, 47 (2): 273-292.
MONTES, Maria Lucia. (1998), “As figuras do sagrado: entre o público e o privado”. In: NOVAIS, Fernando (coord.) & SCHWARCZ, Lilia M. (org.), História da vida privada no Brasil: contrastes da intimidade contemporânea. São Paulo, Companhia das Letras, vol. 4, pp. 63-171.
MONTGOMERY, James D. (2003), “A formalization and test of the religious economies model”. American Sociological Review, 68: 782-809, October.
OLSON, Daniel V. A. (1999), “Religious pluralism and U.S. church membership: a reassessment”. Sociology of Religion, 60: 149-173.
SHAROT, Stephen. (2002), “Beyond christianity: a critique of the rational choice theory of religion from a weberian and comparative religions perspective”. Sociology of Religion, 63 (4): 427-454.
SHEA, Chris. (2001), “Supply and demand among the faithful”. New York Times, 24/ 3.
SHERKAT, Darren E. (1997), “Embedding religious choices: preferences and social constraints into rational choice theories of religious behavior”. In: YOUNG, Lawrence A. (org.), Rational choice theory and religion: summary and assessment. Nova York, Routledge, pp. 65-85.
SHERKAT, Darren E. & ELLISON, Christopher G. (1999), “Recent developments and current controversies in the sociology of religion”. Annual Review of Sociology, 25:363-394.
STARK, Rodney. (1985), “From church-sect to religious economies”. In: HAMMOND, Phillip E. (ed.), The sacred in a post-secular age. Berkeley, University of California Press.
STARK, Rodney. (1996), “Why religious movements succeed or fail: a revised general model”. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 11 (2): 133-146.
STARK, Rodney. (1997), “Bringing theory back in”. In: YOUNG, Lawrence A. (org.), Rational choice theory and religion: summary and assessment. Nova York, Routledge, pp. 3-23.
STARK, Rodney. (1999a), “Micro foundations of religion: a revised theory”. Sociological Theory, 17 (3): 264-289.
STARK, Rodney. (1999b), “Secularization, R.I.P”. Sociology of Religion, 60 (3): 249-273.
STARK, Rodney & BAINBRIDGE, William Sims. (1985), The future of religion: secularization, revival, and cult formation. Berkeley, University of California Press.
STARK, Rodney & BAINBRIDGE, William Sims. (1996), A theory of religion. New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press.
STARK, Rodney & FINKE, Roger. (2000), Acts of Faith. Berkeley, University of California Press STARK, Rodney & IANNACCONE, Laurence. (1992), “Sociology of religion”. In: BORGATTA, Edgar F. & BORGATTA, Marie L. (org.), Encyclopedia of Sociology. Nova York, MacMillan Publishing Company, 4:2029-2037.
STARK, Rodney & FINKE, Roger. (1993), “Rational choice propositions about religious movements”. Religion and Social Order, 3a: 241-261.
STARK, Rodney & FINKE, Roger. (1994), “A supply-side reinterpretation of the ‘secularization’ of Europe”. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 33: 230-252.
SWEDBERG, Richard. (2005), Max Weber e a idéia de sociologia econômica. Rio de Janeiro, Editora da UFRJ.
VOAS, David, OLSON, Daniel & CROCKETT, Alasdair. (2002), “Religious pluralism and participation: why previous research is wrong”. American Sociological Review, 67: 212-230.
WARNER, Stephen. (1993), “Work in progress toward a new paradigm for the sociological study of religion in the United States”. American Journal of Sociology, 98:1044-1093.
WEBER, Max. (1991), Economia e sociedade: fundamentos da sociologia compreensiva. Brasília, Editora da UnB, vol. 1.
WILLIAMS, Rhys H. (2000), “Rational choice theory and religion: summary and assessment” (Book Review). Sociology of Religion, 61 (1).
WUTHNOW, Robert. (2005), “New directions in the study of religion and economic life”. In: SMELSER, Neil J. & SWEDBERG, Richard (ed.), The handbook of economic sociology. 2 ed. Princeton/Oxford/Nova York, Princeton University Press/Russell Sage Foundation.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Tempo Social
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
