Complex Adaptive Systems (ITIS 6500) – Spring 2013
Curtis M. Kularski
30 April 2013
Walter Buckley – first sociologist to conceive of
society as a CAS in 1968
Society does not seek equilibrium
Cannot be predicted using a linear model
Social systems are dependent on:
 Relationships
between elements (agents)
 Information
 Environmental
schemata (physical and “network”)
Behavior is not easily predictable
Each agents implements the “rules” differently
Various groupings in the system behave
differently
Requires development of scales for decision
making separate from complexity measures
Testing is limited to subsets of society
Determine the variables that have the largest
impact on deviance and model social
interactions based on the assumptions of those
variables
Understand the relationship between social
controls and free will (agency)
Predict outcomes for a particular deviance in a
given population
For modeling social systems, existing theoretical
approaches to understanding social behavior
can be applied
 CAS/ABM
can function as a different way to test
existing theories
Structural aspects of society often prevail,
despite cases of deviance or anomie
Combination of formal and informal structures
Agents in social systems are all people of a
particular society
Can be grouped to smaller sub-systems based
on identification
Agents in social system exercise free will in
relation to (or in anomie with) the controls of
their social context
Folkways/Customs – Traditions of the culture
Mores – Informal rules of conduct in a society
Rules – Formal procedures for institution or subset of system
Laws – Formal rules for society
Number of close relationships (control theory)
Previous occurrence of deviance (labeling theory)
Congruence between identity and self-concept
(labeling theory)
Severity of sanctions, relative to weight of
deviation
Behavior of close agents (differential association)
Using the “wrong” spoon at a formal dinner
Exceeding posted speed limits
Plagiarizing an exam
Theft
Homicide
Rules are different in each situation/context
Agents weigh potential behaviors in context
Context is often defined by nearby agents
Nudity: Western culture rules of modesty
 In private, while bathing: no sanctions,
acceptable
 In private, with friends: dependent upon “friendly”
agents
 In public: violation of mores and laws
Agent must consider environment and
relationship with other agents before enacting a
behavior
The default state of a social system is
compliance (social identity theory)
Social agents deviate when compliance is
against personal goals
Agents in society use many factors in deciding in
a deviation
In attempt to return to default state, deviant
agents will attempt to form social connections
to similarly deviant agents
New social connections affirm a new social
identity
In the absence of self-organization, deviant
agents are re-absorbed by larger system “rehabilitation” to norms is encouraged
Rebellious agents are outliers that also tend to
self-organize
Social information includes:
 Nearby agents
 Knowledge of rules/norms
and sanctions
 Perceived likelihood of enforcement of norms
 Internalized identity
 Goals associated with identity (risk/benefit to goals
as a result of deviance)
Rational Choice Theory indicates this is the
primary basis for deviance or conformity
Complexity for social systems can be measured
in various ways:
 Number of agents/nodes affected
 Number of factors to be considered
before a decision
 Levels of hierarchical depth influencing
decisions/interactions
Fitness of CAS model of deviance would need to
be tested against normal societal measures of
deviance (number of occurrences per 1000) of a
particular behavior
Model would likely only be able to test for one
type of deviance at a particular time
No agent-specific predictions are expected, only
system-level predictions of occurrence
A CAS designed to model social behavior can
only be validated against a particular social and
temporal context for which the system was
designed
Outcome of system may vary based on factors
that affect the individual agents if the model is
not sufficiently complex
CAS may be an effective way of predicting
factors that influence deviance for a large social
system
A variety of variables act on agents to influence
how they implement rules
Connections to other agents are an important
factor in social decision-making
Presentation is an adaptation of a paper of the
same title submitted for ITIS 6500 on 30 April
2013. For references, please see original paper
Presentation theme is an adaptation of a theme
created by Dr. Stephanie Moller, Department of
Sociology, UNC Charlotte
Author is a dual Masters degree student in
Sociology and Information Technology at UNC
Charlotte