How the works of Jane Austen show that game theory is present in all human behavior
Game theory—the study of how people make choices while interacting with others—is one of the most popular technical approaches in social science today. But as Michael Chwe reveals in his insightful new book, Jane Austen explored game theory's core ideas in her six novels roughly two hundred years ago—over a century before its mathematical development during the Cold War. Jane Austen, Game Theorist shows how this beloved writer theorized choice and preferences, prized strategic thinking, and analyzed why superiors are often strategically clueless about inferiors. Exploring a diverse range of literature and folktales, this book illustrates the wide relevance of game theory and how, fundamentally, we are all strategic thinkers.
Price: $29.95
Pages: 296
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Publication Date:
23 March 2014
ISBN: 9780691162447
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, Political science and theory, MATHEMATICS / Game Theory, LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, Game theory, Literature: history and criticism, Sociology
"Jane Austen, Game Theorist . . . is more than the larky scholarly equivalent of 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.'. . . Mr. Chwe argues that Austen isn't merely fodder for game-theoretical analysis, but an unacknowledged founder of the discipline itself: a kind of Empire-waisted version of the mathematician and cold war thinker John von Neumann, ruthlessly breaking down the stratagems of 18th-century social warfare."---Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times
Michael Suk-Young Chwe is professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge (Princeton).
