Sociology

An agent-based simulation model representing a theory of the dynamic processes involved in innovation in modern knowledge-based industries is described. The agent-based approach allows the representation of heterogeneous agents that have individual and varying stocks of knowledge. The simulation is able to model uncertainty, historical change, effect of failure on the agent population, and agent learning from experience, from individual research and from partners and collaborators. The aim of the simulation exercises is to show that the artificial innovation networks show certain characteristics they share with innovation networks in knowledge intensive industries and which are difficult to be integrated in traditional models of industrial economics.

Markets for domestic housing in countries like England differ from other markets because the stock is fixed in the short term, buyers need to raise mortgages to finance their purchases and prices tend to be set through intermediaries ('estate agents' or realtors). We introduce an agent-based model in which some of the main features of the English market emerge from interactions between buyers, realtors and sellers and use this model to investigate shocks to the market.

None of the standard network models fit well with sociological theory. This paper presents a simple agent-based model of social networks that have fat-tailed distributions of connectivity, that are assortative by degree of connectivity, that are highly clustered and that can be used to create a large variety of social worlds.

The relationship between social segregation and workplace segregation had been traditionally studied as a one-way causal relationship mediated by referral hiring. In this paper we introduce an alternative framework which describes the dynamic relationships between social segregation, workplace segregation, individuals' homophily levels, and referral hiring. An agent-based simulation model was developed based on this framework. The model describes the process of continuous change in composition of workplaces and social networks of agents, and how this process affects levels of workplace segregation and segregation of social networks of the agents (people). The results of the simulation model include: (1) social segregation and workplace segregation may co-evolve even when hiring of workers occurs mainly through formal channels and population is initially integrated (2) majority groups tend to be more homophilous than minority groups, and (3) referral hiring may be beneficial for minority groups when the population is highly segregated.

One of the major issues facing socially-driven content and collaborative work on the Web (such as Wikipedia) is the lack of tools to measure at large scale the evolution of content (in terms of quality and quantity), to reduce the dropout rate of active contributors or to detect vandalism in a timely manner.

Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a technique increasingly used in a broad range of social sciences. It involves building a computational model consisting of “agents,” each of which represents an actor in the social world, and an" environment" in which the agents act. Agents are able to interact with each other and are programmed to be pro-active, autonomous and able to perceive their virtual world. The techniques of ABM are derived from artificial intelligence and computer science, but are now being developed independently in ...

None of the standard network models fit well with sociological observations of real social networks. This paper presents a simple structure for use in agent-based models of large social networks. Taking the idea of social circles, it incorporates key aspects of large social networks such as low density, high clustering and assortativity of degree of connectivity. The model is very flexible and can be used to create a wide variety of artificial social worlds.

The NewTies project is implementing a simulation in which societies of agents are expected to develop autonomously as a result of individual, population and social learning. These societies are expected to be able to solve environmental challenges by acting collectively. The challenges are intended to be analogous to those faced by early, simple, small-scale human societies. This report on work in progress outlines the major features of the system as it is currently conceived within the project, including the design of the agents, the environment, the mechanism for the evolution of language and the peer-to-peer infrastructure on which the simulation runs.