Inappropriateness of policy based on rational choice

The fashionable assumption of rational choice theory, that rational people act primarily to enhance their own material advantage, is a political position which undermines its claim to value-neutrality. People as individuals are not merely rational in their behaviour, even assuming that there is some universal consensus on the nature of rationality. As effectiveness of specific means to any given end, it is context and culture dependent. Religious, value and selective preferences also influence choices of both ends and means.