Games and Society

Games and Society is Zhang Weiying's book based on the lecture outlines and classroom transcripts of his Peking University general-education course of the same name, published by Peking University Press in 2013. The book's central question: the pursuit of happiness is human nature, yet decisions based on individual rationality often clash with collective rationality, producing the so-called prisoner's dilemma—how can humanity escape this predicament and move toward win-win cooperation? The book has fourteen chapters. The first six build the framework: starting from the relationship between individual rationality and social optimality, it introduces the basic concepts of game theory and Nash equilibrium, and discusses the prisoner's dilemma, multiple equilibria and institutional culture, threats and promises, bargaining and patience, and cooperative behavior in repeated games. The last eight move to applications and extensions: incomplete information and reputation, adverse selection and brands and government regulation, signaling and social norms, mechanism design and income distribution, moral hazard and corruption, evolutionary games and spontaneous order, and law and social norms, ending with institutional entrepreneurs and Confucian social norms. The author cares about two questions: why do people behave uncooperatively, and what kinds of institutions and culture help foster cooperation among people. The book argues that any institution can win people's voluntary compliance only if it constitutes a Nash equilibrium. Written in accessible language with abundant everyday examples, it turns game theory from an abstract mathematical tool into a lens for analyzing market order, social norms, government behavior, university governance, Confucian culture, and other social phenomena. Suitable as an introductory game theory reader for readers across the humanities and social sciences.