Lars P. Syll — Gary Becker’s big mistake

What Lars does not mention probably because it is so well know "in the business, but which most probably don't know, is that Gary Becker's rational choice approach has been extended far beyond economic and policy formulation based on economics to the rest of social science. 

However, sociologists have questioned the empirical foundations of the modeling assumptions.

Rational choice theory is a theoretical framework commonly used in various social sciences including economics, political sciences, and sociology. While in economics, rational choice theory has become the dominant paradigm, this has not been the case in sociology. On the contrary, rational choice theory has been widely criticized for its unrealistic assumptions, lack of empirical testing, and limited empirical validity (cf Green and Shapiro, 1994; Goldthorpe, 2000). While some of these criticisms are related to misconceptions of the interpretation of rational choice theory, others have been seriously taken up by researchers in the field. This has led to more research in which rational choice theory construction is combined with a variety of empirical tests. — Rational Choice Theory in Sociology

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
Gary Becker’s big mistake
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University