Bounded rationality and emotions and how sociology may take profit
towards an interdisciplinary opening
pp. 105-120
in: Helmut Staubmann, Victor Lidz (eds), Rationality in the social sciences, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
The title of the paper "Bounded Rationality and Emotions and How Sociology May Take Profit" refers to Herbert Simon . Not only Herbert Simon but also a couple of additional Nobel laureates in economics received their awards, among other achievements, for their critiques of the homo oeconomicus paradigm. Rationality is the social grammar that provides the sense for social action; it is a driver that has sources in different domains. However, social sense is learned and depends on biographies and life courses, from social embeddedness in terms of culture, space, and time. The social context of judgment and decision serves as a framework and oscillates with modes of social action, so that beginning and end are intertwined. Asymmetric information and social capital, asymmetric social support through diverse social ties, and asymmetric distribution of aspirations are three of the social premises of diverse behavior. These topics suggest that diverse branches may benefit from further cooperation. Reasoning about rationality and her sister irrationality indicates that—besides economics and social psychology—sociology matters.