Crenças, desejos e a luta de classes

Abstract

The limits imposed upon the understanding of processes of choice impregnated with excessive trust in the analytical power of the theory of rational choice and its radical critique are appraised and questioned under a pragmatic point of view. The conventional model maintains that it is the beliefs of the individual which determines her desires. Linking beliefs and conventions, this essay explores the condition expressed by the oposite situation, namely, the context in which it is desires that determine beliefs. The individual choice aggregated by the market, the collective choice and the evolution of rules and conventions are also appraised. Given this framework, an attempt is made to understand the relations between the poles of generation, apropriation and absorption of goods and services in order to focuse on na important link of the social relations chain, namely, the aggregation of individual preferences by means of the political market.