Artificial Societies

Sociological Methods and Research - Tập 31 Số 3 - Trang 325-363 - 2003
R. Keith Sawyer1
1Washington University in St. Louis;

Tóm tắt

This article introduces a general sociological readership to multiagent systems (MAS), a new computer simulation technology that has increasingly been used to describe and explain sociological phenomena. The author uses the term artificial societies to refer to social simulations using MAS and he describes MAS technology and contrasts it with other social simulation technologies. The author argues that MAS have attained a level of maturity where they can be useful tools for sociologists, and he shows how MAS provide new perspectives on contemporary discussions of the micro-macro link in sociological theory by focusing on three aspects of the micro-macro link: micro-to-macro emergence, macro-to-micro social causation, and the dialectic between emergence and social causation.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Adami, Christoph, Richard K. Belew, Hiroaki Kitano, and Charles Taylor, eds. 1998. Artificial Life VI: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Artificial Life. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Agre, Philip E. 1995. “Computational Research on Interaction and Agency.” Pp. 1-52in Computational Theories of Interaction and Agency, edited by P. E. Agre and S. J. Rosenschein. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Alexander, Jeffrey C., Bernhard Giesen, Richard Münch, and Neil J. Smelser, eds. 1987. The Micro-Macro Link. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Alexander, Jeffrey C. and Bernhard Giesen. 1987. “From Reduction to Linkage: The Long View of the Micro-Macro Link.” Pp. 1-42in The Micro-Macro Link, edited by J. C. Alexander, B. Giesen, R. Münch, and N. J. Smelser. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Antona, M., F. Bousquet, C. LePage, J. Weber, A. Karsenty, and P. Guizol. 1998. “Economic Theory of Renewable Resource Management: A Multi-Agent System Approach.” Pp. 61-78in Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation, edited by J. S. Sichman, R. Conte, and N. Gilbert. Berlin: Springer.

10.2307/589357

———. 1995. Realist Social Theory: The Morphogenetic Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Axelrod, Robert. 1984. The Evolution of Cooperation. New York: Basic Books.

———. 1995. “A Model of the Emergence of New Political Actors.” Pp. 19-39in Artificial Societies: The Computer Simulation of Social Life, edited by N. Gilbert and R. Conte. London: University College London Press.

———. 1997. The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Axtell, Robert. 1999. “Why Agents? On the Varied Motivations for Agent Computing in the Social Sciences.” Pp. 3-24in Workshop on Agent Simulation: Applications, Models, and Tools, edited by C. M. Macal and D. Sallach. Chicago: Social Science Research Computation, University of Chicago.

———.2000. “Effects of Interaction Topology and Activation Regime in Several Multi-Agent Systems.” Presented at MABS 2000: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Multi Agent Based Simulation, June, Boston.

Axtell, Robert L. and Joshua M. Epstein. 1999. “Coordination in Transient Social Networks: An Agent-Based Computational Model of the Timing of Retirement.” Pp. 161-83in Behavioral Dimensions of Retirement Economics, edited by H. J. Aaron. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Bechtel, William and Adele Abrahamsen. 1991. Connectionism and the Mind: An Introduction to Parallel Processing in Networks. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.

Bedau, Mark. Forthcoming. “Downward Causation and the Autonomy of Weak Emergence.” Principia.

Blau, Peter M. 1964. Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley.

10.2307/2093199

10.1086/226505

Brassel, Kai-H., Michael Möhring, Elke Schumacher, and Klaus G. Troitzsch. 1997. “Can Agents Cover All the World?” Pp. 55-72in Simulating Social Phenomena, edited by R. Conte, R. Hegselmann, and P. Terna. Berlin: Springer.

Breton, Laurent, Jean-Daniel Zucker, and Eric Clément. 2000. “A Multi-Agent Based Simulation of Sand Piles in a Static Equilibrium.” Presented at MABS 2000: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Multi Agent Based Simulation, June, Boston.

10.2307/2657456

Burt, Ronald S. 1982. Toward a Structural Theory of Action: Network Models of Social Structure, Perception, and Action. New York: Academic Press.

Carley, Kathleen M. 2000. “Computational Social Science: Agents, Interaction, and Dynamics.” Pp. 3-27in Simulation of Social Agents: Architectures and Institutions, edited by D. Sallach and T. Wolsko. Chicago: Social Science Research Computation, the University of Chicago.

Carley, Kathleen M. and Les Gasser. 1999. “Computational Organization Theory.” Pp. 299-330in Multiagent Systems: A Modern Approach to Distributed Artificial Intelligence, edited by G. Weiss. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Carley, Kathleen M. and Michael J. Prietula. 1994. Computational Organization Theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Castelfranchi, Cristiano. 1998. “Simulating With Cognitive Agents: The Importance of Cognitive Emergence.” Pp. 26-44in Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation, edited by J. S. Sichman, R. Conte, and N. Gilbert. Berlin: Springer.

10.1016/S1389-0417(01)00013-4

Castelfranchi, Cristiano and Rosaria Conte. 1996. “Distributed Artificial Intelligence and Social Science: Critical Issues.” Pp. 527-42in Foundations of Distributed Artificial Intelligence, edited by G. M. P. O’Hare and N. R. Jennings. New York: Wiley.

10.1086/210269

Cohen, Ira J. 1989. Structuration Theory: Anthony Giddens and the Constitution of Social Life. New York: St. Martin’s.

Coleman, James C. 1987. “Microfoundations and Macrosocial Behavior.” Pp. 153-73 in The Micro-Macro Link, edited by J. C. Alexander, B. Giesen, R. Münch, and N. J. Smelser. Berkeley: University of California Press.

———. 1990. Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

10.1086/227351

Connah, David and Peter Wavish. 1990. “An Experiment in Cooperation.” Pp. 197-212in Decentralized A.I.: Proceedings of the First European Workshop on Modelling Autonomous Agents in a Multi-Agent World, edited by Y. Demazeau and J.P. Müller. New York: Elsevier.

Conte, Rosaria and Cristiano Castelfranchi. 1995. “Understanding the Functions of Norms in Social Groups Through Simulation.” Pp. 252-67in Artificial Societies: The Computer Simulation of Social Life, edited by N. Gilbert and R. Conte. London: University College London Press.

———. 1996. “Simulating Multi-Agent Interdependencies: A Two-Way Approach to the Micro-Macro Link.” Pp. 394-415in Social Science Microsimulation, edited by K. G. Troitzsch, U. Mueller, G. N. Gilbert, and J. E. Doran. Berlin: Springer.

10.1023/A:1012919018402

Conte, Rosaria, Nigel Gilbert, and Jaime Simao Sichman. 1998. “MAS and Social Simulation: A Suitable Commitment.” Pp. 1-9in Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation, edited by J. S. Sichman, R. Conte, and N. Gilbert. Berlin: Springer.

Conte, Rosaria, Rainer Hegselmann, and Pietro Terna, eds. 1997. Simulating Social Phenomena. New York: Springer.

Contractor, Noshir, Robert Whitbred, Fabio Fonti, Andrew Hyatt, Barbara O’Keefe, and Patricia Jones. 2002. “Structuration Theory and the Evolution of Networks.” Unpublished manuscript.

10.1146/annurev.so.18.080192.000545

10.1086/200027

Dignum, F., D. Morley, E. A. Sonenberg, and L. Cavedon. 2000. “Towards Socially Sophisticated BDI Agents.” Pp. 111-18in Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Multiagent Systems (ICMAS 2000). Boston: IEEE Computer Society.

10.1146/annurev.so.20.080194.001555

Doran, Jim and Mike Palmer. 1995. “The EOS Project: Integrating Two Models of Palaeolithic Social Change.” Pp. 103-25in Artificial Societies: The Computer Simulation of Social Life, edited by N. Gilbert and R. Conte. London: University College London Press.

Drogoul, Alexis, Bruno Corbara, and Steffen Lalande. 1995. “MANTA: New Experimental Results on the Emergence of (Artificial) Ant Societies.” Pp. 190-211in Artificial Societies: The Computer Simulation of Social Life, edited by N. Gilbert and R. Conte. London: University College London Press.

10.1023/A:1009642920187

Elster, Jon. 1989. Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences. New York: Cambridge.

Emerson, Richard M. 1972. “Exchange Theory, Part II: Exchange Relations and Networks.” Pp. 58-87in Sociological Theories in Progress. Vol. 2. Edited by J. Berger, J. M. Zelditch, and B. Anderson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Epstein, Joshua M. and Robert Axtell. 1996. Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

10.1016/S0004-3702(00)00006-0

Forrester, Jay W. 1968. Principles of Systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Giddens, Anthony. 1984. The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Gilbert, Nigel. 1995. “Emergence in Social Simulations.” Pp. 144-156in Artificial Societies: The Computer Simulation of Social Life, edited by N. Gilbert and R. Conte. London: University College London Press.

———. 1999a. “Multi-Level Simulation in Lisp-Stat.” Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 2. Retrieved from http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/JASSS/2/1/3.html

———. 1999b. “Simulation: A New Way of Doing Social Science.” American Behavioral Scientist 42:1485-87.

Gilbert, Nigel and Rosaria Conte, eds. 1995. Artificial Societies: The Computer Simulation of Social Life. London: UCL Press.

Gilbert, N. and J. Doran, eds. 1994. Simulating Societies: The Computer Simulation of Social Phenomena. London: UCL.

Hales, David. 1998. “Stereotyping, Groups and Cultural Evolution: A Case of ‘Second Order Emergence’?” Pp. 140-55 in Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation, edited by J. S. Sichman, R. Conte, and N. Gilbert. Berlin: Springer.

Halpin, Brendan. 1999. “Simulation in Sociology.” American Behavioral Scientist 42: 1488-508.

Hanneman, Robert A. 1988. Computer-Assisted Theory Building: Modeling Dynamic Social Systems. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

10.2307/271060

Homans, G. 1958. “Social Behavior as Exchange.” American Journal of Sociology 65:597-606.

Kennedy, James. 1997. “Minds and Cultures: Particle Swarm Implications.” Pp. 67-72in Socially Intelligent Agents: Papers from the 1997 AAAI Fall Symposium. Menlo Park, CA: AAAI Press.

10.1111/1467-954X.00170

Knorr-Cetina, K. and A. V. Cicourel. 1981. Advances in Social Theory and Methodology: Toward an Integration of Micro- and Macro-Sociologies. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Layder, Derek. 1987. “Key Issues in Structuration Theory: Some Critical Remarks.” Current Perspectives in Social Theory 8:25-46.

Lomborg, Bjorn. 1992. “Game Theory Versus Multiple Agents: The Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma.” Pp. 69-93in Artificial Social Systems, edited by C. Castelfranchi and E. Werner. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

10.2307/2096335

10.2307/2657332

10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.141117

10.2307/201998

———. 1997. “Building and Testing Multilevel Theories.” Pp. 13-28in Status, Network, and Structure: Theory Development in Group Processes, edited by Jacek Szmatka, John Skvoretz, and Joseph Berger. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

10.1093/sf/59.2.335

Meeker, Barbara F. and Robert K. Leik. 1997. “Use of Computer Simulation for Theory Development: An Evolving Component of Sociological Research Programs.” Pp. 47-70in Status, Network, and Structure: Theory Development in Group Processes, edited by J. Szmatka, J. Skvoretz, and J. Berger. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.

Mellars, Paul A. 1985. “The Ecological Basis of Social Complexity in the Upper Paleolithic of Southwestern France.” Pp. 271-97in Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers: The Emergence of Cultural Complexity, edited by T. D. Price and J. A. Brown. New York: Academic Press.

Mihata, Kevin. 2000. “How to Build a Complex Theory: Complex Systems, Computer Simulation, and Sociological Theory.” Ph.D. thesis, Department of Sociology, University of Washington, Seattle.

Möhring, Michael. 1996. “Social Science Multilevel Simulation With MIMOSE.” Pp. 123-37in Social Science Microsimulation, edited by K. G. Troitzsch, U. Mueller, G. N. Gilbert, and J. E. Doran. Berlin: Springer.

Moss, Scott. 1998. “Social Simulation Models and Reality: Three Approaches.” Pp. 45-78in Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation, edited by J. S. Sichman, R. Conte, and N. Gilbert. Berlin: Springer.

Moss, Scott, and Paul Davidsson, eds. 2001. Multi-Agent-Based Simulation. Berlin: Springer.

Moulin, Bernard and Brahim Chaib-Draa. 1996. “An Overview of Distributed Artificial Intelligence.” Pp. 3-55in Foundations of Distributed Artificial Intelligence, edited by G. M. P. O’Hare and N. R. Jennings. New York: Wiley.

Nishimura, Shin I. and Takashi Ikegami. 1998. “Emergence and Maintenance of Relationships Among Agents.” Pp. 438-42in Artificial Life VI, edited by C. Adami, R. K. Belew, H. Kitano, and C. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Nowak, Andrzej and Bibb Latané. 1994. “Simulating the Emergence of Social Order From Individual Behavior.” Pp. 63-84in Simulating Societies: The Computer Simulation of Social Phenomena, edited by N. Gilbert and J. Doran. London: UCL Press.

O’Hare, G. M. P. and N. R. Jennings, eds. 1996. Foundations of Distributed Artificial Intelligence. New York: Wiley.

Parunak, H. Van Dyke, Robert Savit, and Rick L. Riolo. 1998. “Agent-Based Modeling vs. Equation-Based Modeling: A Case Study and User’s Guide.” Pp. 10-25in Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation, edited by J. S. Sichman, R. Conte, and N. Gilbert. Berlin: Springer.

Ray, Thomas S. and Joseph Hart. 1998. “Evolution of Differentiated Multi-Threaded Digital Organisms.” Pp. 295-304in Artificial Life VI, edited by C. Adami, R. K. Belew, H. Kitano, and C. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

10.1111/0081-1750.00060

Sallach, David L. and Charles N. Macal, eds. 2001. Social Science Computer Review Special Issue: The Simulation of Social Agents. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

10.1086/338780

———. 2001b. “Simulating Emergence and Downward Causation in Small Groups.” Pp. 49-67in Multi-Agent-Based Simulation, edited by Scott Moss and Paul Davidsson. Berlin: Springer.

———. Forthcoming. “Nonreductive Individualism, Part 2: Social Causation.” Philosophy of the Social Sciences.

10.1080/0022250X.1971.9989794

Servat, David, Edith Perrier, Jean-Pierre Treuil, and Alexis Drogoul. 1998. “When Agents Emerge From Agents: Introducing Multi-Scale Viewpoints in Multi-Agent Simulations.” Pp. 183-98in Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation, edited by J. S. Sichman, R. Conte, and N. Gilbert. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Sichman, Jaime S., Rosaria Conte, and Nigel Gilbert, eds. 1998. Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation. Berlin: Springer.

10.2307/2657493

Steels, Luc. 1996. “Self-Organizing Vocabularies.” Pp. 179-84in Proceedings of A life V: Proceedings of the Fifth International Workshop on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems, edited by C. G. Langton and K. Shimohara. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Steels, Luc and Frederic Kaplan. 1998. “Stochasticity as a Source of Innovation in Language Games.” Pp. 368-76 in Artificial Life VI, edited by C. Adami, R. K. Belew, H. Kitano, and C. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Sullivan, David G., Barbara J. Grosz, and Sarit Kraus. 2000. “Intention Reconciliation by Collaborative Agents.” Pp. 293-300in Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Multiagent Systems (ICMAS 2000). Boston: IEEE Computer Society.

Sumpter, David J. T. and D. S. Broomhead. 1998. “Formalising the Link Between Worker and Society in Honey Bee Colonies.” Pp. 95-110in Multi-Agent Systems and Agent-Based Simulation, edited by J. S. Sichman, R. Conte, and N. Gilbert. Berlin: Springer.

Turner, Jonathan H. 1993. Classical Sociological Theory: A Positivist Perspective. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

10.1177/089443930101900305

Walker, Adam and Michael Wooldridge. 1995. “Understanding the Emergence of Conventions in Multi-Agent Systems.” Pp. 384-89in ICMAS-95, edited by V. Lesser. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Wellman, Barry. 1983. “Network Analysis: Some Basic Principles.” Pp. 155-200in Sociological Theory, 1983, edited by R. Collins. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Wellman, Barry and S. D. Berkowitz, eds. 1988. Social Structures: A Network Approach. New York: Cambridge University Press.

10.2307/201861

10.2307/202119

10.1016/0167-2789(84)90245-8

10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.735

Wooldridge, Michael. 1999. “Intelligent Agents.” Pp. 27-77in Multiagent Systems: A Modern Approach to Distributed Artificial Intelligence, edited by G. Weiss. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

———. 2000. Reasoning About Rational Agents. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

10.1080/0022250X.1995.9990163