Computational sociology
Computational Sociology is a recent branch of sociology analyze social phenomena by using computation as important tool. The idea is to take advantage on the computer simulation in the construction of social theories. This is because computer simulation is an excellent way of modelling and understanding social processes.
This brief history of computational sociology research indicates that several of the approaches used in contemporary social simulation were originally developed in fields such as physics and artificial intelligence. Although the subject matter of the social science differs from that of the natural science and different issues are important in modelling human societies compared with modelling, for example, aggregates of physical particles, these science and engineering techniques are proving to be very useful. On the other hand, some issues are specific to the social science and the relevance of computer simulation to human societies therefore needs to be considered carefully.
The important notion in computational sociology is the understanding of social agents, the interaction among the agents, and the process can turn out from the level of agents to the social aggregation. This is why, computational sociology is oftenly related to the social complexity studies, since the notion of [complex system], [non-linear] interconnection among macro and micro process, the concept of [emergence], etc. always become major vocabulary in the research. A practical and well-known example of the method is on the construction of computation model, mostly recognized as artificial society where we can analyze the structure of the social system.
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by Nigel Gilbert and Klaus G. Troitzsch, 1998.
compiled by Hokky Situngkir (available in Indonesian/Bahasa Melayu).
13 - 15 February 1998 TU Hamburg-Harburg (Germany).
