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Why do Internet, financial service, and beer commercials dominate Super Bowl advertising? How do political ceremonies establish authority? Why does repetition characterize anthems and ritual speech? Why were circular forms favored for public festivals during the French Revolution? This book answers these questions using a single concept: common knowledge. Game theory shows that in order to coordinate its actions, a group of people must form "common knowledge." Each person wants to participate only if others also participate. Members must have knowledge of each other, knowledge of that knowledge, knowledge of the knowledge of that knowledge, and so on. Michael Chwe applies this insight, with striking erudition, to analyze a range of rituals across history and cultures. He shows that public ceremonies are powerful not simply because they transmit meaning from a central source to each audience member but because they let audience members know what other members know. For instance, people watching the Super Bowl know that many others are seeing precisely what they see and that those people know in turn that many others are also watching. This creates common knowledge, and advertisers selling products that depend on consensus are willing to pay large sums to gain access to it. Remarkably, a great variety of rituals and ceremonies, such as formal inaugurations, work in much the same way. By using a rational-choice argument to explain diverse cultural practices, Chwe argues for a close reciprocal relationship between the perspectives of rationality and culture. He illustrates how game theory can be applied to an unexpectedly broad spectrum of problems, while showing in an admirably clear way what game theory might hold for scholars in the social sciences and humanities who are not yet acquainted with it. In a new afterword, Chwe delves into new applications of common knowledge, both in the real world and in experiments, and considers how generating common knowledge has become easier in the digital age.

Knowledge, Sociology of. --- Cognition and culture. --- Collective behavior. --- Rites and ceremonies --- Rational choice theory. --- Social aspects. --- advertising. --- anthems. --- ceremonies. --- collective consciousness. --- common knowledge. --- communication. --- coordination problems. --- cultural practices. --- culture. --- game theory. --- group identity. --- individual emotions. --- intersubjectivity. --- irrationality. --- physical togetherness. --- psychological stimulation. --- public ceremony. --- public ritual. --- publicity. --- rationality. --- ritual speech. --- rituals. --- television advertising. --- television shows.

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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.

Game theory in literature. --- Game theory --- Rational choice theory. --- Social choice --- Games, Theory of --- Theory of games --- Mathematical models --- Mathematics --- Social aspects. --- Austen, Jane, --- Ao-ssu-ting, --- Ao-ssu-ting, Chien, --- Aosiding, --- Aosiding, Jian, --- Āsṭin̲, Jēn̲, --- Austenová, Jane, --- Osten, Dzheĭn, --- Ostin, Dzhein, --- Lady, --- Author of Sense and Sensibility, --- Остен, Джейн, --- Остен, Джейм, --- אוסטן, ג׳יין --- אוסטן, ג׳יין, --- أوستن، جين، --- Criticism and interpretation. --- POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory. --- African American folktales. --- Black Boy. --- Brer Rabbit. --- Cold War. --- Fallujah. --- Flossie Finley. --- Flossie and the Fox. --- Fox. --- Jane Austen. --- Malitis. --- Mansfield Park. --- Much Ado About Nothing. --- Northanger Abbey. --- Oklahoma!. --- Persuasion. --- Pride and Prejudice. --- Sense and Sensibility. --- Tar Baby. --- bargaining position. --- children. --- choice. --- civil rights movement. --- cluelessness. --- commensurability. --- constancy. --- economics. --- economism. --- economistic values. --- emotions. --- empathy. --- folk game theory. --- folktales. --- foresight. --- game theory. --- habit. --- human behavior. --- human nature. --- ideology. --- inconsequential games. --- instinct. --- intoxication. --- literature. --- manipulation. --- mental laziness. --- money-centrism. --- moral life. --- moralism. --- multiple selves. --- naivety. --- novels. --- penetration. --- power. --- preferences. --- presumption. --- pride. --- rational choice theory. --- resistance. --- rules. --- sagacity. --- self-management. --- self-reference. --- selfishness. --- slaves. --- social distance. --- social factors. --- social status. --- socialization. --- speculation. --- status maintenance. --- strategic partnership. --- strategic sophomores. --- strategic thinking. --- strategic wisdom. --- superiors.