Could Rational Choice Theory Have Been Used to Predict The Failures of The Aston Pride Project?

The New Deal was originally intended to help individuals that belonged to groups that were more likely to be unemployed or low paid. These groups included the under 25s, the over 50s and lone parents. The success of New Deal at helping people back into employment led to the government expanding the programme to deprived areas to aid economic regeneration.

Aston is an area of Birmingham linked to social and economic problems such as higher unemployment and crime, poorer health, education and housing provision plus discrimination against Black and ethnic minority communities that live in the area. Those problems had persisted despite previous attempts to regenerate the area.

Rational Choice Theory was adapted for the use of sociologists only relatively recently. The theory was taken from economics. The basic assumption of Rational Choice Theory is that people act rationally when making social and economic decisions to optimise all benefits and reduce all adverse costs to a bare minimum. People can act rationally as individuals and when they share common beliefs and objectives as groups. When used in sociology the Rational Choice Theory concentrates on the decision-making processes of organisations and whether those processes can be streamlined to maximise rationality and effectiveness (Abercrombie, Hill & Turner, 2000 p. 287).

In its original economics context Rational Choice Theory was part of classical liberal economics theory that people should make choices that would when combined maximise the public good as well as fulfil individual needs. However people do not always make the most obvious or rational choice, they may go for the options that give the greatest individual advantages or they may pick the options that are best for their community in the long run. Yet those decisions may be less beneficial for them as individuals in the short run. Of course there is also the problem that what is deemed can widely differ from group to group. If everybody were able to make the most rational social and economic choices then in economic terms at least the state would diminish in importance. In practice however states have to remain to provide essential services such as education, health, defence and policing (Bannock, Baxter and Davis, 2003 p. 325). Once it is assumed that most people act and think rationally on the basis of their experience and knowledge then the use of the Rational Choice Theory becomes viable. Rational Choice Theory is a method by which social scientists attempt with some accuracy to analyse and even predict the past, present and future behaviour of individuals (in economics) and within sociology, groups. It is a useful analysis tool for the analysis of individual and group decision making processes and such processes can make organisations succeed or if not used properly to fail (Fay, 1996 p. 123).