Die Anderen als sozialer Kontext. Zur Bedeutung strategischer Interaktion

An action is defined as “strategic” when the consequences of ego’s action depend on the action of alter. Situations of strategic interaction are numerous in daily life, business, and politics. Pioneers like Erving Goffman or Raymond Boudon recognized the importance of strategic interaction in sociological analysis long ago. Other peoples’ opportunities of actions form ego’s strategic context. The dynamics of the impact of the strategic context on ego’s action can be modeled and analyzed by means of game theory. We will discuss three examples of strategic interaction models: “Diffusion of responsibility”, Boudon’s “logic of relative frustration”, and the problem of social exchange and trust. We demonstrate the effects of the strategic context on the opportunities and beliefs of actors. In contrast to non-strategic rational choice theory, beliefs and opportunities are not assumed as exogenous. The analysis of the strategic context contributes to a better understanding of the micro-level effects and the macro-level implications. However, the strict rationality requirements of game models are often violated. In these situations, evolutionary models based on principles of learning and adaptions are more adequate than models based on assumptions of strict rationality.