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Economic models can be used to describe consumer behavior or to predict expected behavior of the consumers. In order for the application of the selected economic model to describe realistically the issue under study, it is necessary that the individual components of the economic model are able to reliably identify and possibly even quantify main characteristics of the studied problematique. In the last few years, one of the basic theses based on which several economic models are built upon has been "questioned" within the scientific community, namely the one that portraits human as always rationally behaving individual. The goal of this article is to verify whether, in the framework of predicting consumer behavior, one can still use a person as a so-called homo oeconomicus (economic man who always behaves rationally) or whether this theory has been already overcome, and human behavior should be rather described as irrational. To validate the theory of irrationality in the context of consumer behavior, an experiment in the field of air transport will be used, monitoring consumer decision making while choosing the plane tickets.

The present text deals with the application of Rodney Stark's model „Why religious groups succeed or fail” on the Baha'ism (Baha'i faith) in the USA. Baha'ism is a relatively young and ambitious religious movement originally from Iran whose goal is to spread to all countries in the world and to establish a so co-called „world Bahá'i civilization.” The central role was assigned to the United States of America, where is located the biggest western Baha'i community. Based on Stark's model, we can say that the Baha'ism (it meets only two criteria of ten) is an unsuccessful religious movement, which is consistent with a low number of adherents according to the US censuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present text deals with the application of Rodney Stark's model "Why religious groups succeed or fail" on Babism (Babi faith). Babism is a post-Islamic religion which has roots in 19th century Iran, and whose charismatic founder Bab proclaimed a radical break from Islam. Although Babism had rapidly spread across Iran and Iraq and quickly gained almost one hundred thousand adherents, today it has roughly three thousand adherents. In the current study, I am using Stark's model to explain it's fast success in gaining adherents and arguing it can be regarded as a successful movement, even though it does not meet Stark's basic criterion of success, which consists of attracting at least one hundred thousand believers and lasting for as long as a century. I am arguing that this is the result of anachronic view of separation of Baha'ism (which has its origin in Babism) from Babism, which artificially leads to a decrease in the number of Babi believers in the 19th century, but which does not correspond to historical reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the Czech followers of Reverend Moon using the viewpoint of rational choice theory. It focuses not only on this group as a specific religious organization with the characteristics of a sect, but also on how the institutional environment and its changes before and after 1989 affected this group's character, including its survival strategies. The diachronic dimension of our analysis helps to map (1) the changes in the strategies of the organization towards its own members, and at the same time (2) the changing character of the religious market. The Czech Republic's religious market underwent a transformation from a state-regulated to a partially deregulated environment. In our research, we test whether the members of this religious group fulfill the characteristics of a sect, as described by rational choice theory, which means determining: (1) the degree of tension with the social environment, (2) the degree of exclusion, conservatism, and participation, and (3) the degree of religious and social commitment to this organization. In addition to these descriptive aspects, we also focus on the strategies of this religious organization that are connected with the structure and dynamics of the religious market. All these aspects have their consequences for the level of this social group's social inclusion in Czech society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study is divided into four parts. The first part deals with ways in which sociology (sociology of religion) created a theory of religion, i.e., asks what is the possible' strategy of creation sociological theory of religion. This section also contains some important principles that are required for each contemporaly sociological theory of religion (e.g. cross-cultural comparison, i.e., formulation of theories, concepts and postulates that are possible and necessary to undergo cross-cultural comparison. The second part summarizes the benefits and insufficiencies of the two major contemporary sociological theories of religion which are the secularization theory and the rational choice theory. The third part presents the most significant sources of inspiration for contemporary theory of religion (cognitive study of religion, cognitive archeology and anthropology, evolutionary psychology and sociobiology). The fourth part presents the author's own attempt to formulate basic propositions for possible bio-cultural theory of religion that is based on the above-mentioned sciences and also incorporates current approaches and findings of sociology of religion, including the theory of secularization theory and the rational choice theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although religion once occupied a central position both in sociological theory and in the writings of the "founding fathers" of sociology, subsequently the subject lost its significance. As a consequence of the widespread acceptance of the secularistic paradigm, sociological studies of religion became marginalised as did the branch of sociology promulgated after WWII; religion and the sociology thereof were simply condemned to extinction. However, the worldwide religious revival of the late 20th century changed the situation altogether. Religion and spirituality as well as - albeit to a much lesser degree - the sociologies thereof have become topics of discussion within general sociological thought. The author describes and analyses the development of the sociology of religion in the second half of the 20th century. He maintains that "behind" the two grand paradigms - i.e. the secularisation and rational choice theories - different approaches exist, impacted by national academic traditions and other factors. Multi-paradigmatical approaches, an emphasis on ethnographical research and adoption of a "humanistic" perspective form common themes in the contemporary sociology of religion, especially in Europe; the Czech and Slovak sociologies of religion are no exception. Unfortunately, the sociological mainstream still devotes little attention to such developments, while the sociology of religion itself is rather closed to (post-) modern theories, including those dealing with religion. The central position in recent sociological thought is thus occupied by a specific subject - various forms of religion and spirituality - rather than by any special theories, methods or knowledge accumulated by sociologists of religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to outline an economic theory of security in international perspective. First section highlights the economic theory of alliances. Second section examines the defence economics. Third section looks at terrorism from rational choice theory point of view. Forth section analyses security dilemmas in the war on terror. Fifth section explores reactions of government policies. Sixth section explains security as a relative concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It describes the ‘Parsonization’ and the ‘de-Parsonization’ of Weber in the American sociological literature, interpretations in the theory of action, empirical sociology, the sociology of race as well as in the theory of social stratification. The influence of Weber on the rational choice theory and the „neo-charismatic‟ theory of leadership are discussed. Two questions are asked: whether Weberianism can be an appropriate program for transition and whether history should dominate over sociology? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two schools of freedom are considered and compared, `the liberty school' and `the real freedom school'. For the liberty school, freedom is freedom of choice. In the classical understanding, that is seen as a matter of rights. In the modern, revised understanding, it is seen as depending on rights, resources and arenas. For the real freedom school, freedom is a matter of being one's own master. This is viewed not as `rational choice' but as being in control of both the ends and the means in shaping one's life. Freedom is now a function of liberty and reason. The challenge the real freedom school puts to us is the psychological problem of self-control. The second part of the article considers and defies `reason'. Reason is seen as a competence that must be learned. It consists of the application in life choices of values and norms. Values and norms are beliefs about what is good (or bad) and right (or wrong). Operational values and norms are grounded in evidence-based faith and are learnt in institutions, in particular in families, schools, and arenas of deliberation. The politics of freedom goes to the protection and nurturing of institutions. The method of analysis is individualistic, but the final conclusions social. It is argued that the real freedom school of freedom should be the preferred one for the advancement and protection of freedom in today's world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presented essay is an overview of the development of environmental sociology from the beginning of the seventies to approximately the end of the twentieth century. It covers the most important theoretical concepts and empirical approaches that found application in ascertaining relations to the environment. It begins with Inglehart's theory on post-materialism, and continues through cultural theory, the new environmental paradigm, Beck's "society at risk", Luhmann's "ecological communication", and finally rational choice theory. The article presents the given concepts concisely, and includes the most important arguments of their critics. The aim of this study is to give a basic overview of the ideological streams, approaches, as well as problems, which have most significantly influenced the development of environmental sociology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]