Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge

Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge is a 2001 non-fiction book by Michael Chwe,[2] a professor at UCLA. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, said the rational ritual in Chwe's book is an "important idea for designing social media" and included the book in his Mark Zuckerberg book club.[3] As of 2017, there were 31 editions.[4]

AuthorMichael Suk-Young Chwe
LanguageEnglish
PublishedPrinceton, New Jersey
PublisherPrinceton University Press[1]
Publication date
2001
Media typeprint
Pages152
ISBN0-691-00949-X Paper
OCLC496293589
Websitehttp://rationalritual.com

Overview

Rational Ritual seeks to understand human rituals, including weddings, inaugurations, and political rallies, in terms of common knowledge generation.[Notes 1] In his review of Rational Ritual, Aviad Heifetz wrote, a "fact is common knowledge if everybody knows it" and "everybody knows that everybody knows it".[5] Rational Ritual argues that one of the purposes of a ritual is to create common knowledge.[6][Notes 2]

Reviews

The book was reviewed in The New York Times,[7] Economica,[8] Journal of Economic Literature,[9] Economic Journal,[5] and the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation.[10] In her 2002 review, Juliette Rouchier said the book was convincing in linking "rational individual behaviours (choosing the best action to attain a goal) with some that (like rituals) look prima facie irrational."[10]:4[11] She questioned Chwe's omissions in terms of omitting the "historical dimension" as an "important aspect of in the evolution of a social system."[10]:4 She also challenged his radical view on "submission" in which common knowledge is revealed through rituals whereby people come to think they were the only one with an idea or wish, and did not "dare perform an act" because they thought they were "on their own".[10]:4

Themes

Chwe wrote that popular television shows, for example are very efficient generators of common knowledge. He examined data on the prices of network television advertising slots, citing the example of the Super Bowl, whose advertisements[Notes 3] for "coordination problem" goods, "had become the best common knowledge generator in the United States."[2]:5 Chwe used the example of how the airing of a domestic violence Super Bowl ad, not only put the issue on the "national agenda more publicly than ever before",[2]:7,86–7 but it led to a long-lasting myth spread by news reports following the game that the Super Bowl itself was a catalyst for domestic violence. The claim was that the game day was a "Day of Dread" for many women as domestic violence spiked on that day. In spite of being debunked since then, the myth continues to spread.[12][Notes 4][13]

Awards and honors

Notes
  1. Common knowledge is a technical term introduced by the philosopher David Kellogg Lewis in 1969 and brought into game theory by Robert Aumann
  2. The 2013 edition included a new afterword by the author.
  3. A majority of Americans who own working televisions, 68% or 103,390,000 US viewers in 2018, watch the Super Bowl and it is one of the most watched annual sporting events in the world. By 2015 it hit a new record of $5 million for a 30 second spot.
  4. Robert Markey posted his most famous performance artworks entitled "Super Bowl Scoreboard" in 1993, 1994 and 1996 in New York’s Grand Central Station. Based on available statistics at the time, Markey scoreboard tallied the incidents of domestic violence (which was then one woman every 15 seconds), beside Super Bowl football scores.

References
  1. "Rational Ritual". Parker University Library. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  2. Michael Suk-Young Chwe (2001). Rational Ritual: Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 152. ISBN 9780691158280. OCLC 496293589.
  3. Richard Feloni (April 1, 2015). "Mark Zuckerberg hopes this book will help shape his vision for Facebook". Business Insider. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  4. "Chwe, Michael Suk-Young 1965-". WorldCat. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  5. Aviad Heifetz (February 2004). "Book review" (PDF). Economic Journal. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  6. "Rational Ritual". Princeton University Press. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  7. Virginia Postrel (April 25, 2002). "From Weddings to Football, the Value of Communal Activities". New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  8. Tilman Börgers (2004). "Book review" (PDF). Economica. 71. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  9. Vince Crawford (June 2002). "Book review" (PDF). Journal of Economic Literature. 40 (2). Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  10. Juliette Rouchier (March 2002). "Book Review" (PDF). Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASSS). 5 (2). Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  11. Schuessler, Jennifer (October 19, 2018). "Game Theory: Jane Austen Had It First". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  12. Ringle, Ken (January 31, 1993). "Debunking the 'Day of Dread' for Women". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  13. Cheng, Mae M. 1996. “Keeping a More Horrifying Score: GameTime Tally of Domestic Abuse.” Newsday, January 28, p. A6.
  14. Michael Chwe (April 8, 2015). "Mark Zuckerberg wants people to understand common knowledge. What's common knowledge?". Washington Post. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
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