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SYMBOLIC INTERESTS AND MEANINGFUL PURPOSES

CONCEIVING RATIONAL CHOICE AS CULTURAL THEORY

Rational choice theory and cultural sociology have often seemed to be radically at odds with one another. As the two traditions become more sophisticated, however, points of convergence are beginning to appear. It now seems possible to create a partial synthesis. Although rational choice theory has had very little to say about culture, we can conceive of symbolic process and structure through the framework of purposive action. Borrowing core concepts from James Coleman's Foundations of Social Theory, we can think of actors' interpretation and intention of meaning as the exercise of control over symbolic resources. Actors have means- and ends-interests in symbolism. From the intersection of this interested control emerge cultural structures that are real conditions of interaction. Identifying these cultural structures and tracing the process of their emergence is one way to conceive the project of cultural sociology. In addition to conceptual clarity such a synthesis provides the orienting principle of a social optimum.

Key Words: culture • meaning • purposive action • symbolism

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