Post hoc Theorising in Rational Choice Research on Voting: Revisiting an Old Debate
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According to Donald Green and Ian Shapiro, the inclusion of consumption benefits in Anthony Downs’ rational choice model of voting by William Riker and Peter Ordeshook is an example of methodologically flawed post hoc theorising. In this article, I argue that Riker and Ordeshook employed a methodologically sound strategy for building theory. This strategy is based on two cognitive procedures: idealisation and concretisation. Idealisation allows researchers to focus on the most important features of the phenomenon being modelled, whereas concretisation enables initially omitted elements to be gradually added back to the model. Concretising a model in response to disconfirming empirical data is a commonly applied method of reconciling theory with reality in the empirical sciences.
Post hoc theorising; rational choice theory; voting; idealisation; concretisation
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