What are the key assumptions of rational choice individualism. Are they valid assumptions? Cite examples to support your examples.

The popularity of economics can be explained by the clear formal models of behaviour that can be constructed from the assumption that people are motivated by economic needs and the desire to profit. The idea that people tend to weigh up the costs and benefits of actions in a calculative way explains why social scientists have increasingly turned to the theory of rational choice. There is a history of rationality in sociology. However rational action …

…University Press Blau, P. M. 1964. Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: John Wiley Hardin, G. 1968 'The tragedy of the Commons' Science 162 1243-1248 Homans, G. 1961. Social Behaviour: Its Elementary Forms. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Olson, Mancur, Jr., 1965, The Logic of Collective Action, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Scott, J. 'Rational Choice Theory' From Understanding Contemporary Society: Theories of The Present, edited by G. Browning, A. Halcli, N. Hewlett, and F. Webster. (Sage Publications, 2000). .