What Are The Main Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Rational Choice Approach To Religions Behavior?

What Are The Main Strengths and Weaknesses of The Rational Choice Approach To

Religions Behavior?


     One of the pioneers of the rational choice theory has been Gary Becker.

He states that this approach can be applied to all human behaviour, including

religion.  This approach has three assumptions. It assumes that people engage in

maximising behaviour.  When applying this approach to religion we are not

concerned with money.  We are concerned with the maximisation of personal

benefits.  When we make a decision we weigh up the costs and benefits and choose

the option which offers the most benefit.  Secondly, there are ‘markets that

with varying degrees of efficiency allow the actions of different participants

to function together efficiently.'  Thirdly, prices and other market functions

can affect demand and supply, controlling desires and affecting the actions of

consumers.  Becker explains that price is not described in money terms but as a

shadow price. For example, muslims cannot drink alcohol.

     This approach involves four theorems.  Firstly, a rise in price reduces

the quantity demanded.  The example he gives is if people have to put more time

and effort into having children then less people will do so.  Secondly, a rise

in price increases the quantity supplied, the example given is women in the

labour market.  Thirdly, competitive markets are more efficient then

monopolistic markets and lead to the diversity of a product.  Fourthly, a tax on

the output of a market reduces that output eg the punishment of criminals is a

tax on crime.

     Finke and Iannaccone have applied this theory to religious behaviour and

understand that the high degree of religion in America is attributed to the

existence of a free market and therefore competition and diversification in

religion.  Finke argues that in a free market start up costs are low and this

leads to new ideas and more diversity and therefore more chance of everyone

finding a religion they like.  Also in a competitive free market earning a

living acts as an incentive to clergy to work harder and try to tailor their

religion to suit the demands of the consumer.  He also suggests that state

monopolies are less efficient in the absence of competition and believes that

state churches would therefore allow high costs.

     Bruce highlights some weaknesses of this theory.  He states that the

early Christian church had very high startup costs eg persecution and this did

not prevent the recruitment of new followers.  On the other hand, according to

the maximisation theory, the benefits must have outweighed the cost of the

threat of persecution or no-one would have joined.  Bruce criticises the theorem

that inefficiency exists in the absence of competition by pointing out that the

Roman Catholic Church is a state supported monopoly in many countries and a

hegemony in others yet it has been very efficient.  Also, Roman Catholic success

is not a result of a free market as it has done well in Poland and the Republic

of Ireland where there is almost no competition.  Bruce also states that as

people moved away from the national church and competition increased in the

middle ages, people became more invloved in religion.  This suggests that

competition does lead to religion but the free market model does not explain the

decline in involvement in religion from the start of the century.  Maybe this

decline can be best described by the sociological theory of secularisation.

Perhaps people feel that the costs of religion and the restrictions it imposes

on their lifestyles outweigh the benefits or that religion would not benefit

them at all.

     Iannaccone believes that economics can explain known facts about

individual decision making with regards to religious behaviour.  He believes

economics can explain facts about denominational mobility, typical age of

converts, typical patterns of inter-religious marriage and participation levels

found in different marriages.

     The majorit
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