Social Choice Theory

3 units

This course provides a rigorous introduction to the field of social choice theory, which studies how groups with diverse preferences make collective decisions. Specifically, we will study the mathematical and normative properties of preference aggregation rules which may include majority rule, unanimity rule, and many others. After successfully participating in this course, students should be able to do the following: 1) Understand the concepts of preferences, utility, and rationality in the context of social scientific models, recognize the limitations and strengths of these concepts as they relate to reasoning about politics, and identify deviations from rationality; 2) Describe individual preferences and the properties of preferences using formal mathematical language; 3) Demonstrate a formal understanding of preference aggregation rules and choice rules, along with formal properties of these rules such as transitivity, strategy proofness, Pareto consistency, and so on; and 4) Work through elementary mathematical proofs in the context of social choice models. The course, like the field of social choice theory, will make heavy use of mathematics and formal logic, though I will assume no prior mathematical knowledge.