"Rational Lives is a study of value formation and change, group identification, and conflict over social norms and lifestyles. Most scholars who study value conflicts have resisted rational choice approaches to the subject on the grounds that social conflict between groups is best explained by expressive motives and other "nonrational" factors.

In contrast to this view, Dennis Chong shows that a single model that combines economic and sociological mechanisms can explain how people make decisions across both cultural and economic realms. He argues that the investments we make in the norms and values of our communities reflect the influence of our psychological dispositions, as well as the social and material costs and benefits of the options we face."--BOOK JACKET.