Social complexity 984629 213961482 2008-05-21T15:15:53Z Ronz 7862 /* External Links */ needs cleanup per WP:EL, WP:SPAM, WP:NOT#LINK - removed one spam link '''Social complexity''' is the approach to social phenomena that tries to analyze a social system as a [[complex system]]. The social complexity can be seen as an impact on the social analysis of increasingly influential [[complexity theory]]. It can be understood as the arrangement of contemporary social studies in the paradigm of a complex adaptive system, [[evolutionary computation]], a [[self-organizing system]] in almost all aspects of social sciences, [[sociology]], [[psychology]], [[political science]], [[anthropology]], [[economics]], etc. == Aspects of social complexity == Some important properties of social complexity are: * The understanding of differences among description levels in a social system; at the minimum the distinguishment of macro-level (e.g.: collective or [[aggregate]] phenomena), meso-level (e.g.: social interaction among social agents), and micro-level (e.g.: the belief systems of individual social agents). In this case, there is a tendency to see a social system as a [[multi-agent system]]. * There are macro-micro linkages between description levels. The macro levels emerged from the micro levels and in return there is a causality relationship between the macro properties and the micro. This aspect is reminiscent of the concept of [[emergence]] in a complex adaptive system. In return, the interplay between macro and micro levels are commonly modelled as [[non-linear]] phenomena. * There is a tendency to use formal approaches in social complexity studies, e.g.: [[game theory]], [[cellular automaton]], [[evolutionary programming]], [[neural network]] modeling in many aspects, [[dynamical system]] modeling, [[computer simulation]], etc. == Some forms of social complexity == It is believed that social complexity is the cumulative form of contemporary research into complex systems. Some famous subjects often related to social complexity studies include [[computational sociology]], [[cognitive science]], [[econophysics]]. == External links == * [http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/ The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation] - the principal journal covering this area and freely accessible * [http://socialcomplexity.gmu.edu/ The Center for Social Complexity, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University] - First university-based research center specifically dedicated to the scientific investigation of social complexity across all levels-of-analysis: cognitive, decision-making, groups, organizations, societies, and international or world systems. Offers the world's first Ph.D. Program in Computational Social Science. Founded in 2002 by Prof. Claudio Cioffi-Revilla. * [http://www.bandungfe.net/faq/ Frequently asked questions about social complexity] * [http://www.bandungfe.net/ The Official Web of Bandung Fe Institute] * [http://cfpm.org The Centre for Policy Modelling] - a research group specialising in simulating social complexity, with large open-access list of papers * [http://essa.eu.org/ The European Social Simulation Association] * [http://www.casos.cs.cmu.edu/naacsos/ The North American Association for Computational Social and Organizational Sciences (NAACSOS)] Leading professional association in North America for social complexity scientists and computational social scientists * [http://www.springerlink.com/content/102865/ Computational and Mathematical Organizational Theory (CMOT)] Journal of The North American Association for Computational Social and Organizational Sciences (NAACSOS) *[http://www.personal.kent.edu/~bcastel3/ Sociology and Complexity Science Website] {{socio-stub}} [[Category:Social systems]] [[Category:Complex systems theory]]