Rational Ritual : Culture, Coordination, and Common Knowledge

Rating:
Summary: A theoretical book with popular appeal.
Review: I find this book to be simply compelling. Easy to read and approachable, yet the logic and theories behind the premise are rock solid. What boggles the mind is how incredibly pervasive the concepts are in today's information society. I can see that this book will soon be required reading for advertisement executives, psychologists, sociologists, business school students. This is a powerful look at ourselves and what drives our behavior on a daily basis. Outstanding.

Rating:
Summary: A new way of thinking
Review: This book has the potential to open the minds of economists to the relationship between culture and economic action, and anthropologists-sociologists and political scientists to the power of game theory. It lays the path towards a new, more intergrated social science, which helps reconcile the collectivist notions of Durkheim with the individualists notions of neo-classical economics, and does this much more effectively - within its realm - than social capitalists like James Coleman and Robert Puttnam. Chwe's ideas are much deeper than theirs - and more better expressed -- he writes very well. Since "Rational Ritual" is more deep than flashy, its real impact will be felt in time.