title: Rasmussen's legacy and the long arm of rational choice.
abstract: Rational choice theory says that operators and others make decisions by systematically and consciously weighing all possible outcomes along all relevant criteria. This paper first traces the long historical arm of rational choice thinking in the West to Judeo-Christian thinking, Calvin and Weber. It then presents a case study that illustrates the consequences of the ethic of rational choice and individual responsibility. It subsequently examines and contextualizes Rasmussen's legacy of pushing back against the long historical arm of rational choice, showing that bad outcomes are not the result of human immoral choice, but the product of normal interactions between people and systems. If we don't understand why people did what they did, Rasmussen suggested, it is not because people behaved inexplicably, but because we took the wrong perspective.
authors.affiliation: Griffith University, Safety Science Innovation Lab., Macrossan Building N16 Room 2.21, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan Campus, QLD 4111, Australia. Electronic address: s.dekker@griffith.edu.au.
authors.forename: Sidney W A
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Dekker
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D003662:Decision Theory; D049669:History, 16th Century; D006801:Humans; D011908:Rationalization
keywords: Human error; Incidents; Rasmussen; Rational choice; Second victim