The Rational Choice Approach To Religions Behavior :: essays research papers fc

What Are The Main Strengths and Weaknesses of The Rational Choice Approach To Religions Behavior?One of the pioneers of the logical choice theory has been Gary Becker.He states that this fire can be applied to all human behaviour, includingreligion. This approach has three assumptions. It assumes that people engage in maximising behaviour. When applying this approach to religion we be notconcerned with money. We be concerned with the maximisation of personalbenefits. When we make a decision we weigh up the cost and benefits and choosethe option which offers the most benefit. Secondly, there are markets thatwith varying degrees of efficiency allow the actions of different participantsto function together efficiently. Thirdly, prices and other market functionscan put on demand and supply, controlling desires and affecting the actions ofconsumers. Becker explains that price is not described in money terms but as ashadow price. For example, muslims cannot drink alcohol.This approac h involves four theorems. Firstly, a rise in price reducesthe quantity demanded. The example he gives is if people have to put more timeand effort into having children so less(prenominal) people will do so. Secondly, a risein price increases the quantity supplied, the example given is women in thelabour market. Thirdly, competitive markets are more efficient thenmonopolistic markets and lead to the diversity of a product. Fourthly, a tax onthe output of a market reduces that output eg the penalty of criminals is atax on crime.Finke and Iannaccone have applied this theory to religious behaviour andunderstand that the higher(prenominal) degree of religion in America is attributed to the cosmos of a guiltless market and therefore competition and diversification inreligion. Finke argues that in a free market start up costs are low and thisleads to new ideas and more diversity and therefore more chance of everyonefinding a religion they like. Also in a competitive free market earning aliving acts as an incentive to clergy to work harder and try to tailor theirreligion to suit the demands of the consumer. He also suggests that statemonopolies are less efficient in the absence of competition and believes thatstate churches would therefore allow high costs.Bruce highlights some weaknesses of this theory. He states that theearly Christian church had very high startup costs eg persecution and this didnot prevent the recruitment of new followers. On the other hand, according tothe maximisation theory, the benefits must have outweighed the cost of thethreat of persecution or no-one would have joined. Bruce criticises the theorem