Whereas rational choice theory has enjoyed considerable success in economics and political science, due to its emphasis on individual behavior sociologists have long doubted its capacity to account for non-market social outcomes. Whereas they have conceded that rational choice theory may be an appropriate tool to understand strictly economic phenomena - that is, the kinds of social interactions that occur in the gesellschaft - many sociologists have contended that the theory is wholly unsuitable for the analysis of the kinds of social interactions in the gemeinschaft - such as those occurring...