The Project
LIterature For Empowerment (LIFE) investigates whether reading fiction can foster a form of individual empowerment we term “eudaimonic empowerment”.
The project is funded by the European Union through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA). It is being conducted at the University of Verona, Italy, and Columbia University, New York, USA, under the mentorship of Prof. Massimo Salgaro (Verona) and Prof. Patricia Dailey (Columbia).
Background
There is a growing body of research, sometimes classified as the empirical or scientific study of literature, examining the effects of reading. Many studies suggest that reading may have diverse prosocial effects. Some have shown that …
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… that shared reading and encouraging mental processes such as re-appraisal or meta-cognition have resulted in lower scores for symptoms of dementia or depression (Billington et al. 2013; Dowrick et al. 2012).
Other studies claim that reading literature can enhance social cognition and empathy (Kidd, Ongis & Castano 2016; Djikic, Oatley & Carland), which can also extend to embers of other backgrounds and cultures (Usherwood & Toyne 2002). Studies also indicate that literary reading can stimulate modifications in worldview and promote greater self-reflection and self-understanding, helping create an openness to self-alteration and modification of personality traits (e.g. Green & Appel 2024; Tangerås 2020).
Given the observed enhancement of the capacity for reflection and social cognition, LIFE is asking: can literature also enhance one’s sense of empowerment?
What is “Eudaimonic Empowerment”?
Eudaimonia (from the Greek eu = good, daimōn = spirit) was for Aristotle the highest human good. Sometimes called happiness or flourishing, it refers to living a good life, aligned with one’s values, realizing one’s potentials, and contributing beyond just oneself. Unlike hedonia that emphasizes pleasure, eudaimonia emphasizes purpose, growth, and lasting fulfillment.
Empowerment, in our working definition, is “an expansion of the scope of freedom of choice and action by increasing one’s authority and control over resources and decisions that affect one’s life”.1 Here, it relates to internal resources …
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… and personal and relational empowerment through an enhanced perception of one’s right to autonomy and capacity to direct one’s own interests, regardless of possible disempowering influences in one’s environment. Such disempowering influences is what is meant here by “manipulation”.
Empowerment relates to such other concepts as autonomy, agency, and self-efficacy.
Eudaimonic empowerment is a form of psychological empowerment grounded in eudaimonic well-being. It captures the sense of autonomy and agency that arises when individuals’ actions are rooted in reflection, sincerity with the self, and a clearer understanding of their values and goals.
It is supported by such qualities as wisdom, meaning, and inner peace.
One of LIFE’s goals is to operationalize this concept, that is, to develop a Eudaimonic Empowerment Scale (EES).
1. Adapted from World Bank 2002: 14, 27n1.
Why Empowerment?
The project is particularly concerned with individuals, especially young people, from disadvantaged backgrounds, who often face many disempowering influences in their environment and as a result may not realise and develop their potential. If reading literature is found to have the potential to enhance personal empowerment in such contexts, this will inform the design of reading interventions to this aim.
Bibliography
- Bandura, Albert (2006) “Guide for Constructing Self-Efficacy Scales”, in Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents, ed. Frank Pajares and Tim Urdan (Greenwich, CN: IAP)
- Billington, Josie et al. (2017) “A Comparative Study of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Shared Reading for Chronic Pain”, Medical Humanities 43.3, pp 155-165
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- Djikic, Maja, K. Oatley and Matthew A. Carland (2012) “Genre or Artistic Merit?: The Effect of Literature on Personality”, SSOL 2.1, pp 25-36
- Dowrick, Christopher et al. (2012) “Get into Reading as an Intervention for Common Mental Health Problems”, Mental Health 38.1, pp 15-20
- Fialho, Olivia (2024) Transformative Reading (Amsterdam: John Benjamins)
- Green, Melanie C., and Markus Appel (2024) “Narrative transportation: How stories shape how we see ourselves and the world”, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 70, pp 1-82
- Handbook of Eudaimonic Well-Being (2016) ed. by Joar Vittersø (Cham: Springer)
- Kidd, David, Martino Ongis and Emanuele Castano (2016) “On Literary Fiction and Its Effects on Theory of Mind”, SSOL 6.1, pp 42-58
- Kuiken, Don et al. (2004) “Locating Self-Modifying Feelings Within Literary Reading”, Discourse Processes 38.2, pp 267-286
- Rowlands, Jo (1997) Questioning Empowerment (Oxfam GB)
- Tangerås, Thor Magnus (2020) Literature and Transformation (London: Anthem)
- The Reading Agency (2015) Literature Review: The Impact of Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment (BOP Consulting)
- Usherwood, Bob, and Jackie Toyne (2002) “The Value and Impact of Reading Imaginative Literature”, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 34.1, pp 33-41
- World Bank (2002) Empowerment and Poverty Reduction, ed. Deepa Narayan (Washington, DC: World Bank Group)