The language of gaming reaches so far beyond the realm of gambling in American culture that its terms—winners, losers, cheats, and bets—describe everything from politics to personal life. Often, speakers do not merely suggest that society is like a game; they say that it is one. The pervasiveness of the game metaphor signals the emergence of a “social imaginary,” a deeply rooted way of envisioning social life.

Michael Brown, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History at Rochester Institute of Technology, is researching the history of how “the game” rose to challenge the market metaphor for American society while serving as a cynical counterpoint to “meritocracy” as the latter’s successor. This discussion will explore how the game metaphor, in its most extreme form, points to an individualistic, adversarial world—an endless series of encounters that one either wins or loses. Once the outlook of the gambler, “the game” metaphor has run the table.

The William R. Eadington Fellowship program is sponsored by the University Libraries Special Collections and Archives and funds scholarly research into our collections on gaming and Las Vegas.

The discussion will also be livestreamed.