James s. Coleman's social capital concept in the context of rational choice sociology: Debates on educational attainment

Abstract

Over the past two decades sociologists have shown more interest in the concept of rational choice. Traditionally the concept of rational choice has assumed that one of the main elements is the fractionation between sociology and a neo-classical economic approach, whereas disciplinal bounds have related non-economic action as one. However, contemporary sociological tendencies have required more specific action theories since the collapse of the grand explanations at the end of the 1970s. Rational choice theory has been evaluated as repairing this kind of weakness in sociology by some approaches, especially in American and Anglo-Saxon sociology traditions. James S. Coleman, who was a prominent figure in post-war American sociology, defended rational-based action theory in sociology passionately and contemporary action theory approaches have largely cited his opinions on the general principles of human behavior. The effects of social capital in the educational attainment process have been treated as substantial proof of rational action principles by Coleman and this approach has had repercussions in the sociology of education research. Generally, rational action based social capital has appraised family-child contact in educational attainment and has claimed that rational intentions have led to this kind of relationship. Some scholars have also criticized the conformable assessment of a smooth relationship between choice and rational principles. This study focused on evaluations of Coleman's rational based social capital concept and maintained that the educational attainment process is more complex than rational action assumptions. These kinds of approaches also elaborated on the critical focus on rational choice sociology's inquiries and tried to show the potential incommodious of this theory via the social capital effect of education.