Complex Social Systems Paradigm: A Literature Review on Concepts and Fields of Application

Abstract

The research is of a bibliographical and conceptual nature. An extensive literature review is conducted to draw some answers to questions that lie at the core of the social theorizing and modeling. This research attempts to introduce the basic building blocks of Social Complexity as a paradigm shift in social theories and the relevant fields of application. The research is inter-disciplinary as it transcends from social science, to philosophy, to computer science. The first chapter focuses on the concept of paradigm shift and how Social

Complexity changed the social science conduct in both theory and practice. Concepts such as emergence and self-organization are introduced. The micro-macro spectrum is reviewed with relevant to social theorizing, specifical1y under the work of Durkheim and Giddens. Chapter 2 serves as a prologue to Agent-based Modeling (ABM). •It focuses on the notions of simulation and modeling and how they progressed as heuristic tools for the study of social phenomena. Chapter 3, as a pivotal section in the research, is basically a review of what contemporary theorists and practitioners of empirical social sciences have experienced with the rise of ABM. The concept of computation and complex systems at the Edge of Chaos is introduced. The origin of ABM in the field of artificial intelligence is then illustrated. Afterwards, the focus is shifted to the generative power of ABM and the building of artificial societies. Characteristics of agents and a general scheme of ABM design are then reviewed. The chapter concludes with a comparison of ABM as opposed to traditional analytical tools in the formalization of models in the social sciences. The fourth and last chapter briefly introduces the various efforts of applying ABM concepts to the disparate social sciences. Prospects and challenges of the field are the concluding parts of the research.