Reflexiones críticas sobre las teorías del intercambio y de la elección racional en sociología.

This article reflects on the perspectives of exchange and rational choice theories in sociology as intellectual explanations. The essay is divided in three parts: one historical, one theoretical, and one epistemological. The first establishes some prominent features of the situation surrounding the emergence of these approaches, which helps us understand their historical and ideological matrix. The second examines their conceptual and methodological elements and their core theoretical positions, identifying some of their inconsistencies and virtues. In the third, the author identifies some of their underlying epistemological premises and the place they occupy in the history of enduring ideas, with the goal of better understanding their limitations and reach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]