Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

A new sociological approach employs computer simulation and artificial intelligence in the development of theories and in empirical research. Much of the early work was carried out in the areas of social exchange and social networks. The initial methodology – variously called artificial social intelligence , agent-based modeling , or multi-agent systems – employs theory-based computer models of human interaction. Computer and information scientists have recently developed similar techniques for analyzing empirical data, with names like machine learning , recommender systems , and latent semantic analysis . There is good reason to believe that computational sociology will spread beyond the specialized subfields that first adopted it and become a major approach in all areas of social research. In The Nature of Social Science (1967) and Social Behavior (1974), George Homans argued sociological theories should be formalized, much in the manner of classical Greek logic and geometry, as hierarchical structures of propositions beginning with axioms and precise definitions of terms. From these, chains of other propositions should be derived by logical inference, down to hypotheses that could be operationalized in rigorous empirical studies. Unfortunately, traditional sociology did not have rigorous methods for carrying out deductions from axioms, or precise definitions of concepts. ... log in or subscribe to read full text