Computational Social Science: (Sage Benchmarks in Social Research Methods)

Computational social science is an approach increasingly influential in a broad range of social sciences. It involves building a computer programme model that represents a theory and then 'executing' the programme and observing the output as a way of validating the theory, making predictions about the social world or exploring the implications of social interventions. Computational social science has been proposed as a 'third way', standing beside quantitative mathematical and formal approaches and qualitative, interpretative approaches. Computational methods have been used in fields as diverse as political science and environmental resource management. They are becoming popular in some areas of economics; in science and innovation policy; in social psychology; in voting and opinion studies; in marketing and consumer behaviour and in anthropology. This four volume set republishes the key articles in the emerging field of computational social science. Because of the widespread use of computational approaches throughout the social sciences, the literature is very widely dispersed. Many papers are of interest far outside their original disciplines, because of the methods they use and the theories they develop have broad ranging application. Some of the literature is hard to locate, published in conference proceedings and edited collections without a wide circulation. Nigel Gilbert has brought together this disparate literature within a logical and coherent framework and contextualized his selection with a 6,500 word introduction.

Table of Contents:
VOLUME 1 Introduction Why Agents? On the varied motivations for agent computing in the social sciences - Robert L. Axtell On Generating Hypotheses Using Computer Simulations - Kathleen M. Carley The Computer as a Laboratory - John L. Casti Learning to Speculate: Experiments with artificial and real agents - John Duffy Agent-Based Computational Models and Generative Social Science - Joshua M. Epstein Seeing Around Corners - J. Rauch Precursors and Early Work A Computer Simulation of Community Referendum Controversies - Robert P. Abelson and Alex Bernstein A Monte Carlo Approach to Diffusion - T. Hagerstrand Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A distributed behavioral model - Craig W. Reynolds The Checkerboard Model of Social Interaction - J.M. Sakoda Dynamic Models of Segregation - T.C. Schelling Negotiation as a Metaphor for Distributed Problem Solving - R.G. Smith and R. Davis Agent-based Computational Economics Auctions with Artificial Adaptive Agents - James Andreoni and John H. Miller Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-In by Historical Events - W. Brian Arthur Why Are We Simulating Anyway? Some answers from economics - E. Chattoe The Emergence of Economic Classes in an Agent-Based Bargaining Model - Joshua M. Epstein, Robert L. Axtell and P. Young Artificial Adaptive Agents in Economic Theory - John H. Holland and John H. Miller Evolving Market Structure: An ACE model of price dispersion and loyalty - Alan P. Kirman and Nicolaas J. Vriend Artificial Worlds and Economics, Part II - David A. Lane Modeling Macroeconomies as Open-Ended Dynamic Systems of Interacting Agents - L. LeBaron and L. Tesfatsion Why are Economists Sceptical about Agent-based Simulations? - Roberto Leombruni and Matteo Richiardi Agent-Based Modelling - A Methodology for the Analysis of Qualitative Development Processes - Andreas Pyka and Thomas Grebel VOLUME 2 Modelling Sociality Symbolic Interactionist Modeling: The coevolution of symbols and institutions - D.V. Duong Modeling Sociality: The view from Europe - Nigel Gilbert The Emergence of Computational Sociology - N.P. Hummon and T.J. Fararo From Factors to Actors: Computational sociology and agent-based modeling - Michael M. Macy and Robert Willer Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning - James G. March Multi-Agent Systems for the Simulation of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change: A review - Dawn C. Parker, Steven Manson, Marco A. Janssen, Matthew J. Hoffmann and Peter Deadman Multi-Agent Dependence by Dependence Graphs - Jaime S. Sichman and Rosario Conte Groups Sociophysics: A new approach of sociological collective behavior - Serge Galam, Y. Gefen and Y. Shapir Towards a Theory of Collective Phenomena: Consensus and attitude changes in groups - Serge Galam and Serge Moscovici Status and Participation in Task Groups: A dynamic network model - John Skvoretz and Thomas J. Fararo Organisations A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice - Michael D. Cohen, James G. March and Johan P. Olsen Societies Population Growth and Collapse in a Multiagent Model of the Kayenta Anasazi in Long House Valley - Robert L. Axtell, Joshua M. Epstein, Jeffrey S. Dean, George J. Gumerman, et al The "Wedding-Ring": An agent-based marriage model based on social interaction - F. Billari, A. Prskawetz, B.A. Diaz and T. Fent The EOS Project: Integrating two models of palaeolithic social change - Jim Doran and Mike Palmer Persuasion Dynamics - Gérard Weisbuch, Guillaume Deffuant and Frédéric Amblard Networks The Structure of Scientific Collaboration Networks - M.E.J. Newman Opinion Evolution in Closed Community - Katarzyna Sznajd-Weron and Jósef Sznajd The "New" Science of Network - Duncan J. Watts VOLUME 3 Social Dilemmas Agent-Based Simulation in the Study of Social Dilemmas - N.M. Gotts, J.G. Polhill and A.N.R. Law Learning, Signaling, and Social Preferences in Public-Good Games - Marco A. Janssen and T.K. Ahn Nucleus and Shield: The evolution of social structure in the iterated prisoner′s dilemma - Bjørn Lomborg Cognition and Norms An Evolutionary Approach to Norms - Robert Axelrod Simulating Fishermen Society - François Bousquet, C. Cambier, C. Mullon, P. Morand, and J. Quensiere The Emperor′s Dilemma: A computational model of self-enforcing norms - Damon Centola, Robert Willer and Michael M. Macy Understanding the Functions of Norms in Social Groups through Simulation - Roasario Conte and Christiano Castelfranchi Evolving Specialisation, Altruism and Group-Level Optimisation Using Tags - David Hales The Evolution of Ethnocentrism - Ross A. Hammond and Robert Axelrod Fashions, Habits and Changing Preferences: Simulation of psychological factors affecting market dynamics - Marco A. Janssen and Wander Jager Modeling Agents within a BDI Architecture - Anand S. Rao and Michael P. Georgeff A Multi-Agent Model for Describing Transhumance in North Cameroon: Comparison of different rationality to develop a routine - Juliette Rouchier, François Bousquet, Mélanie Requier-Desjardins and Martine Antona The Evolution of Communication Systems by Adaptive Agents - Luc Steels Cognitive Science Meets Multi-Agent Systems: A prolegomenon - Ron Sun Methodology From KISS to KIDS - An ′Anti-simplistic′ Modelling Approach - Bruce Edmonds and Scott Moss VOLUME IV Emergence Varieties of Emergence - Nigel Gilbert Computation at the Edge of Chaos: Phase transitions and emergent computation - C.G. Langton Emergent Properties of Balinese Water Temple Networks: Coadaptation on a rugged fitness landscape - J. Stephen Lansing and James N. Kremer The Standing Ovation Problem - John H. Miller and Scott E. Page Artificial Societies: Multiagent systems and the micro-macro link in sociological theory - R. Keith Sawyer Computational Models of Emergent Properties - John Symons Tools and Techniques Advancing the Art of Simulation in the Social Sciences - Robert Axelrod Multi-Agent Systems and Role Games: Collective learning processes for ecosystem management - François Bousquet, O. Barreteau, P. D′Aquino, M. Etienne, S. Boissau, S. Aubert, et al. Agent-Based Modeling vs. Equation-Based Modeling: A case study and users′ guide - H. Van Dyke Parunak, Robert Savit and Rick L. Riolo How to Build and Use Agent-Based Models in Social Science - Nigel Gilbert and P. Terna A Standard Protocol for Describing Individual-Based and Agent-Based Models - Volker Grimm, Uta Berger, Finn Bastiansen, Sigrunn Eliassen, et al. Cellular Automata in the Social Sciences: Perspectives, restrictions and artifacts - R. Hegselmann Agent-Based Simulation Platforms: Review and development recommendations - Steven F. Railsback, Steven L. Lytinen and Stephen K. Jackson A Common Protocol for Agent-Based Social Simulation - Metteo Richiardi, Roberto Leombruni, Nicole Saam and Michele Sonnessa Validation Aligning Simulation Models: A case study and results - Robert L. Axtell, Robert Axelrod, Joshua M. Epstein and Michael D. Cohen Validation, Verification, and Testing Techniques throughout the Life Cycle of a Simulation Study - Osman Balci Sociology and Simulation: Statistical and qualitative cross-validation - Scott Moss and Bruce Edmonds

About the Author :
Nigel Gilbert read for a first degree in Engineering, intending to go into the computer industry. However, he was lured into sociology and obtained his doctorate on the sociology of scientific knowledge from the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Michael Mulkay. His research and teaching interests have reflected his continuing interest in both sociology and computer science (and engineering more widely). His main research interests are processual theories of social phenomena, the development of computational sociology and the methodology of computer simulation, especially agent-based modelling. He is Director of the Centre for Research in Social Simulation. He is also Director of the University's Institute of Advanced Studies and responsible for its development as a leading centre for intellectual interchange. He is the author or editor of several textbooks on sociological methods of research and statistics and editor of the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation.