Michael Chwe is an associate professor of political science at UCLA whose research centers on game theory and “its applications to social movements and macroeconomics and violence. He has written a book entitled Jane Austen: Game Theorist, which asserts that Austen is one of our best social theorists.
Steve Levitt of the University of Chicago, Economics Department uses the following definition of game theory: “The study of the strategic interactions between a small number of adversaries, usually two or three competitors”. This application is usually applied to sports and gambling.
In his introduction to the podcast between Levitt and Chew, Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the pop-economics book Freakonomics, writes that Levitt loves Clueless, a movie based on Emma, and has watched it repeatedly. The film is about a young woman who constantly schemes to set up others romantically and continually meddles in their lives. Levitt sees that Jane Austen does this intentionally and uses strategic thinking explicitly in her novels.
In the podcast Levitt interviews Michael Chwe about his interesting take on Jane Austen:
[T]here are lots of little parables, or little asides, in the novels which don’t have anything really much to do with the plot or anything. You could just take them out and no one would care, but they do seem to be little explicit discussions of aspects of choice and aspects of strategic thinking. So, for example, in Pride And Prejudice, the very first manipulation is kind of what gets the whole novel started. The Bingleys come into town and so the Bennet family has five unmarried daughters, and that’s kind of a huge problem. So Mrs. Bennet is super-focused on getting her daughters married and for obvious reasons. It’s not like they can get jobs or anything. If that is the main way, you could become either a governess or you could get married. That’s basically it. So the very first manipulation is Mr. Bingley shows up with his sister and they rent out Netherfield which is this estate nearby. And so Mr. Bingley’s sister invites Jane to come for dinner. And the first manipulation is Mrs. Bennet says, “Well you’ve got to go on horseback.” … The daughters say, “Why horseback? Shouldn’t she take the carriage?” And Mrs. Bennet says, “Well, it’s going to rain and if she goes on horseback it is very likely that they will invite her to stay the night, and hence she’ll get to spend more time.” [I]t seems kind of silly but you have to play for keeps. This is a big deal. If you know, if somebody marriageable is nearby and you have a chance to spend 20 more minutes with that person, you’ve got to go for it. … And so in Pride And Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet is not a very sympathetic character, and she seems to be very foolish, but if you look at what she accomplishes, it is pretty good. Jane marries and she incentivizes Lydia, who runs off with Wickham without being married, which is a scandal. But maybe she realizes that by creating this crisis situation the members in her family will solve he problem for her.
Here’s another interesting observation that Chwe makes: in Jane Austen’s novels, high status people have difficulty understanding that low status people are capable of strategic thinking.
Click here to see a short YouTube video on the topic.
The podcast from Freakonomics lasts another 17 minutes after the discussion quoted in the text above. Click here to enjoy the discussion!
Analysis of the strategic words Jane Austen uses in her novels.
My thanks to Christine Stewart for sending the link to the podcast!
Jane Austen's World 
My God i hope professors of political science don’t strat reading the rest of the rannge and scope of Engllish literatuure.. they will find evidence for ALL their pet theories..
How does professor Cwe actually thinks a nnovellst wriites? Of course a novel is all about reactions and interreactions. He seems to have discovered “the novel” and it hhas bbecome a revellation to him.
Psychologists, social researchers, and theologians should start on Virginia Woolf..They might find it a revelation.
i think we just have another professor trying to popularse their subject..
Hah!
I think he was pointedly saying this was two hundred years ago. Novels were different back then. (I am so old I think I remember the era) I read somewhere (I can never find this statement again though) that Pride and Prejudice was the first modern romance novel, and that Mr. Darcy (stops to swoon) was the first modern romance hero
This was fascinating! But I wonder if he missed one point (or maybe I did in the youtube). I think Austen is honored, and beloved, because she was the first to combine ‘game theory’ with ‘romance’, thereby creating the entire Romance genre we enjoy to this day. Perhaps that’s why she still reads so fresh, her characters are so human and her outcomes so satisfying.
With Emma she is also considered to be a mystery writer, dropping clues about Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax left and right while leaving the heroine clueless.
That Jane Austen was a keen assessor of human strategy was, in part due, I think, to her circumstances as well as her amazing God-given wits.
1.She was a clergyman’s daughter, and the Rev Austen was a good clergyman, not the “buy the best living, leave the work to the poor curate” sort. Jane would have learned how to listen sympathetically to people and “read between the lines” of what they said from observing her father. (I think we see hints of this father-daughter closeness in Pride and Prejudice, between Lizzy and Mr Bennett.)
2. Being considered unequal, a woman of the period had to hone their skills at “reading” men in order to maintain/improve her station in life by the only acceptable means – marriage. Such was especially true for Jane. As the younger daughter of a middling clergyman, Jane could not have depended upon a large fortune to succeed in the marriage market. After her father died, her financial circumstances were even more straitened. She, her mother, and Cassandra, depended upon the goodness of others (painfully commemorated in Sense and Sensibility and Emma). Being able to strategize concerning her brother (yes, I think some of that “encouraged” him to give the three women Chawton House) was essential.
In modern times, when a woman can choose a career, their lives don’t depend upon the socio-economic status of a man, so she doesn’t need to hone this skill. Some may even consider it predatory, or beneath the gender to practice.
I wanted to let you know that I featured your blog on mine awhile back. Its on the post Wednesday Weekly Review #24 if you want to check it out.
Helen
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