Master-Narrative Transitions from the Vikings to Artificial Intelligence

How Fiction Helps Communities Adapt to a Changing World
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-19137-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 322 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory

Master-Narrative Transitions from the Vikings to Artificial Intelligence: How Fiction Helps Communities Adapt to a Changing World examines how societies survive and transform when their foundational stories begin to collapse. By tracing a millennium of cultural evolution in the Nordic region, it explores the mechanisms through which communities move from one master-narrative to another.

Propelled by artificial intelligence, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is challenging the humanist master-narratives that have structured meaning throughout the modern era. In their place, emerging dataist beliefs appear increasingly adaptive to tomorrow's environment, reshaping how individuals and institutions understand progress. Yet, such transitions come with the highest possible stakes.

Drawing on selected works of fiction alongside cultural analysis, the book offers both historical insight and contemporary agency. It ultimately asks what kind of beliefs can sustain social cohesion in the age of AI, and what new societies might emerge if we choose our narratives wisely.

Zielgruppe

Academic and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Larsen, Mads

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Skandinavische Literaturen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1. Bridging the Narrative Abyss
Chapter 2. The Nordic Master-Narrative
Chapter 3. Christianity: From Kinship Societies to Feudalism
Chapter 4. The Black Death: Acceleration Toward Humanism
Chapter 5. The Reformation: From Theism to Religious Humanism
Chapter 6. The Pastoral Enlightenment: A Nordic Secular Humanism
Chapter 7. Feminism: Writing Women into the Master-Narrative
Chapter 8. Modernity: A Plea from the Urban Poor
Chapter 9. Secular Lutheranism: Narrative Continuity Informs Poverty Relief
Chapter 10. Humanism: A Nordic Negotiation Between Creeds
Chapter 11. Indigeneity: Embodied Assimilation and Sámi Revitalization
Chapter 12. Social Democracy: Adapting Through the Gales of Modernity
Chapter 13. Postmodernism: Countering the Neoliberal Threat
Chapter 14. Posthumanism: Algorithmic Universality as a Nordic Dataism
Chapter 15. Overcoming the Gloom of a Collapsing Story

Über Autor(innen)

Mads Larsen is a literary scholar who uses evolutionary perspectives to study cultural change. After earning a PhD and an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles, he became a Postdoc and Researcher at the University of Oslo. Larsen is currently affiliated with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His first research monograph was Stories of Love from Vikings to Tinder: The Evolution of Modern Mating Ideologies, Dating Dysfunction, and Demographic Collapse (Routledge, 2025). Larsen has co-authored a book on evolutionary positive psychology and published over forty articles. He serves on the editorial board of Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences.