Combining Ethnography and Game Theory Using Simulation: A Critique and Development of ‘Can Norms Account for Strategic Interaction?’ by S. Gezelius

Abstract

In a 2007 article in Sociology, Gezelius offers an account of information exchange between Norwegian fishermen using game theoretic analysis of ethnographic data. In this article, I consider what his analysis reveals about using game theory in sociology. To be effective, this must combine systematic use of ethnography with effective application of game theory. In addition, the methods of simulation and evolutionary game theory are important tools to explain rich sets of norms and practices observable ethnographically.