Complexity theory and the social sciences : the state of the art /
Byrne, D. S.(David S.),1947-
For the past two decades, 'complexity' has informed a range of work across the social sciences. There are diverse schools of complexity thinking, and authors have used these ideas in a multiplicity of ways, from health inequalities to the organization of large scale firms. Some understand complexity as emergence from the rule-based interactions of simple agents and explore it through agent-based modelling. Others argue against such 'restricted complexity' and for the development of case-based narratives deploying a much wider set of approaches and techniques. Major social theorists have been reinterpreted through a complexity lens and the whole methodological programme of the social sciences has been recast in complexity terms. -- Publisher website.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Framing the issues -- Understanding the complex -- Restricted complexity and general complexity : an outline of the arguments -- Complexity theory and the philosophy of social science -- Complexity theory meets social theory -- Evolutionary social theory -- Structure and agency -- Time and place -- Complexity theory : methodology and methods -- Complexity and methodology : exploring trajectories through narratives -- Hunting causes in a complex world -- Researching the complex social -- Complexity in action -- Complexity in disciplines and fields -- Opening the social sciences : the post-disciplinary implications of the complexity frame of reference -- Conclusion: complexity and the social sciences : the way forward -- Bibliography.
For the past two decades, 'complexity' has informed a range of work across the social sciences. There are diverse schools of complexity thinking, and authors have used these ideas in a multiplicity of ways, from health inequalities to the organization of large scale firms. Some understand complexity as emergence from the rule-based interactions of simple agents and explore it through agent-based modelling. Others argue against such 'restricted complexity' and for the development of case-based narratives deploying a much wider set of approaches and techniques. Major social theorists have been reinterpreted through a complexity lens and the whole methodological programme of the social sciences has been recast in complexity terms. -- Publisher website.
Social sciences
Chaotic behavior in systems.
Social sciences