This course is an accessible introduction to the application of complexity theory to the social sciences, the course will be primarily focused on the domain of sociology, but we will touch upon elements of psychology, anthropology, political science and economics.
Watch our introductory videos that give quick and accessible overviews to the key concepts in social complexity from social systems to complex interdependence theory...
In this module we will be giving a quick overview to the application of complexity theory to the social sciences what we call social complexity, we start off with a very broad discussion surrounding the scientific enterprise as we talk about paradigms in general and the Newtonian paradigm in particular. We will go on to talk about how the basic assumptions underpinning our traditional formal approaches, begin to fail when we start to deal with more complex systems consisting of a very many autonomous, diverse, components, that are highly interconnected and interdependent, as often is the case within the social sciences. We briefly introduce complexity theory as an alternative approach to modeling these complex systems, an approach that is based upon a paradigm inherited from systems theory. Finally we touch upon how complexity science is based upon a new set of computational methods and how big data is set to have a transformative effect on the social sciences in the coming decades
Read our selection of reference articles to dig deeper into specific topics and find sources
Social Complexity The process of emergence within social organizations - how global patterns emerge out of only [...]
Social Systems A group of friends forms a type of social system through their interdependencies A [...]
Social Institutions California Capitol Building an example of a political institution. Institutions of this kind can be [...]
Social Interdependence Theory Social interdependence theory posits that it is the way that people are interdependent that [...]
Social Agents Indian man on a motorbike next to three young men in Kamalapuram, India. Agents are [...]
Social Functions Parliaments are examples of political institutions that perform the social function of collective decision-making [...]
