Rationality and Revolution (Studies in Marxism and Social Theory)

Revolutions are large-scale and complex events, involving rapid changes in political and social arrangements, and characterized by turmoil and violence. It is thus not surprising that they have generally been thought to be unpromising material for the application of ideas and theories of rational choice. The essays in this volume show how to rational choice ideas can contribute to the study of revolution and rebellion. They suggest fresh lines of attacks on this difficult, sprawling subject. It may, indeed, be true that the people who make revolutions do not always have revolutionary intentions, and that they are not always responsible for the course that events take or the situations in which they personally find themselves. Yet none of these factors necessarily implies that intentional action, and rational action in particular, has no role in explaining revolution. The essays also make a contribution to the perennial debates about structure" and "action" in the explanation of the historical change, and about the problematic gap between sociological and historical modes of explanation. " (Publisher)