Rational Choice Theory and Religion: Summary and Assessment (review)

154 SHOFAR Summer 1998 Vol. 16, No.4 Rational Choice Theory and Religion: Summary and Assessment, edited by Lawrence A. Young. New York: Routledge, 1997. 187 pp. $59.96 (c); $17.95 (p). The discovery of rational choice theory by students of religion is one of the most important developments in recent years. Although it has been common to refer to the sociology, psychology, anthropology, and history of religiqn, only with the appropriation of rational choice theory has it become possible (if not yet common) to speak of the economics of religion. As studies influenced by the rational choice (RC) or economic approach to religion proliferate, there is an increasing need both to summarize and to assess the contribution of this line of work to our understanding of religion. As the title suggests, Rational Choice Theory and Religion: Summary and Assessment attempts todo just this. Part I contains ess~ys by the three central figures in the development of the RC approach: Rodney Stark, Roger Finke, and Laurence Iannaccone. Each contributes an important piece to the puzzle, and collectively the three essays embody the core of the RC approach. Stark, th~ spearhead of the movement to bring RC theory to bear on the study of religion, begins by chronicling his interest in bringing "real" theories into sociology, meaning theories stated in axiomatic-propositional form from which hypotheses can be derived which are falsifiable through empirical testing. His 1985 and 1987 books with William Sims Bainbridge are examples of such theories, both taking their leave from the RC axiom: Humans seek what they perceive to be rewards and avoid what they perceive to be costs. This work was the springboard for Stark's more recent theorizing which married his RC axiom to macrosocial propositions about religious economies, most importantly: "To the degree that a religious economy is competitive and pluralistic, overall levels ofreligious participation will tend to be high." This proposition is central to Stark's book with Finke, The Churching ofAmerica, 1976-1990 (1992), which documents the parallel growth ofpluralism and participation in the U.S. Finke's contribution to the present volume reiterates the importance of the supply-side of the religious equation. Like the supply-side theorists of Reaganomics, Finke argues that an unregulated religious market leads to organizational pluralism, pluralism to competition, competition to specialization of product and aggressive recruitment, specialization and recruitment to higher demand, and higher demand to greater participation. Thus, as a "natural" consequence of the invisible hand operating unencumbered by state regulation, over time the diversity ofthe religious market will reflect the underlying diversity ofconsumer preferences in the population itself. IfStark is the most identifiable spokesman for the RC movement, lannaconne is its chief technician, bringing his training in econometrics to bear on questions of religion. Mercifully, his chapter is entirely conceptual, sparing the mathematically challenged reader the shame of having to skim over the equations which figure so prominently in his empirical contributions to the literature. Instead, Iannaccone reviews the Book Reviews 155 "Beckerian" assumptions of maximizing behavior, stable preferences, and market equilibrium which ground his approach. He discusses the "household production" perspective which sees religious practice as just one of many commodities that a household can choose to produce. Households contribute "inputs" such as money and time to produce certain religious commodities as "outputs." Iannaccone deploys the concept of "religious human capital"-"a person's accumulated stock of religious knowledge, skills, and sensitivities"-to account for the pattern of religious participation and affiliation actors exhibit. For example, religious switching is more likely at an early age before an actor has accumulated so much religious capital that switching is more costly than staying. Those who do switch are likely to switch to a theologically similar denomination so as "to conserve on the value of their previous religious investments." Finally, Iannaconne discusses the "free-rider" problems which are endemic to collective enterprises such as the production of religious commodities by congregations. Counterintuitively, he argues that congregations can reduce free-rider problems by increasing the costs on their members through demanding strictures. By increasing costs, congregations force potential members to choose to participate fully or not at all, and by increasing the average level...