When we experience losses that seem insurmountable, how do we once again plant the seed of hope? Hope is an integral part of social life. Yet, hope has not been studied systematically in the social sciences.  

Hirokazu Miyazaki and Richard Swedberg, editors of the new book The Economy of Hope (University of Pennsylvania Press, Dec. 2016), will investigate hope in a broad range of socioeconomic situations and phenomena across time and space.

In their collection of essays, contributing authors from a variety of disciplinary vantage points, describe the resilience of hope and the methodological implications of studying it. From farm collectivization in Romania in the 1950s to Barack Obama’s 2008 political campaign of hope in the financial global crisis, hope becomes an essential framework for an analysis of economic phenomena.

Hirokazu Miyazaki is director of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, John S. Knight Professor of International Studies, and professor of anthropology at Cornell. Richard Swedberg is professor of sociology at Cornell University.

This book talk is sponsored by Olin Library and part of the Chats in the Stacks series. Light refreshments served.