This work sets out a new approach to understanding society, based on rational choice theory. Starting from a few simple assumptions about the nature and context of human action, this text provides a reinterpretation of our major social institutions. Its central aim is to see how far social relations can be explained on the basis of human beings acting in their own interests rather than under the confines of wider social forces. The institutions examined in this book include households, communities, workplaces, social classes and the state. In each case, it is shown how the institution forms a...