Rational-choice theorizing has a long tradition within sociology, but has always been controversial and contested. Yet it has influenced the theoretical vocabulary of the discipline at large and has made deep inroads into some important sociological areas such as social movements, social mobility, and religion. Most sociological rational-choice theories assume that actors act rationally in a broad sense, and focus on the aggregate outcomes that individual actors in interaction with one another are likely to bring about. This article reviews the most important contributions to the rational-choice tradition in sociology, and briefly discusses its historical past and its likely future.