Sociological Approaches to the Study of Economic Behavior

Abstract

There are two theories of economic behavior in social sciences. On the one hand, economists have been studying economic phenomena and developed an original theory of economic behavior since marginal revolution. On the other hand, sociologists and other behavioral scientists have been theorizing on behavior in general and analyzing economic behavior as one branch of behavioral science. Then what is the difference in the characters of these two theories of economic behavior? And what is the merits of the approaches. to economic behavior by sociology and other behavioral sciences?In this paper, I have tried to consider these two problems, restricting the object to consumer behavior which is most important among economic behaviors.The theory of consumer behavior in economics differs notably from that in behavioral science on its basic assumptions about consumer behavior and the fields it deals with. And the rationalistic assumptions of the former are repeatedly criticized by behavioral scientists and heretical economists. So long as they set up the purpose of constructing a logical and systematic theory, however, the rationalism of the former is valid to be sure. On the other hand, the theory of consumer behavior in behavioral science demonstrates its efficiency when it links to concrete and positive analyses whether they are statistical or not.The two theories are unlike on their characters and merits, so that it is not very productive to criticize the economical theory of consumer by reason of its unreality. It is the very important matter to understand sufficiently the merits and possibilities of approaches to consumer behavior by sociology and other be havioral sciences.