Some Problems and Possibilities in the Study of Dynamical Social Processes

Bibliographic Data

ID8975975
AuthorsJohn E Puddifoot (Teesside University, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume30
Issue1
Pages79-97
Publication date2000-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8308 • E-ISSN: 1468-5914
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-5914.00120
OpenAlexW2084124095
LanguageEN
Citations received4

The recent challenge of Dynamical Systems Theory (also known as ComplexityTheory or Chaos Theory) to the social sciences, is based largely on the beliefthat processes in the social arena can be considered as analogous to those of the natural world, and that in consequence general theoretical advances in explaining the latter might with advantage be applied to the former. This paper aims to show that claims for Dynamical Systems Theory with respect to the understanding or measurement of social processes would be premature; the reasons for this lying not only in the unfamiliarity and operational difficulties of Dynamical Systems Theory in itself, but also in the problematic nature and history of our usage of the term ‘social process’. Reviewing some examples of such usage from Sociology and Social Psychology, it is concluded that Dynamical Systems Theory might serve as a catalyst for a re‐examination of existing orthodoxies and major concepts, but that progress would be retarded by the uncritical application of it's terminology, concepts, and techniques of mathematical modelling, without this prior and demanding first step

Dynamical systems theory · Economics · Epistemology · Management science · Physics · Positive economics · Process (computing · Social science · Social system · Sociology · Terminology · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Computer Science · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence · Philosophy

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