Complex Systems / Sociology 260
Fall 2014
TTh 10-11:30 471 Lorch
Patrick Grim
SOCIAL DYNAMICS
This course is an introduction to contemporary theoretical tools for understanding the dynamics
of social systems. We will be using game theory, network theory, and agent-based simulations
in order to try to understand basic mechanisms of social organization and social change. The
emphasis will be not on empirical data but on attempts to understand the deeper social dynamics
and mechanisms of social change.
At the conclusion of the course, you will:
1) be familiar with basic concepts of network analysis and game theory as applied to questions of
social dynamics
2) have read and discussed landmark contributions in the field
3) be familiar with agent-based modeling and other techniques as tools for understanding social
change
Format
Our work will be divided between (1) short lectures and (2) discussion in seminar. For seminars,
your reading in advance and active participation will be crucial.
Books and Readings
We will be drawing extensively from:
David Easley and Jon Kleinberg, Networks, Crowds & Markets.
That’s the closest to a textbook we will be using, and you should buy it.
We will be drawing repeatedly from:
Thomas C. Schelling, Micromotives and Macrobehavior
Scott Page, The Difference.
Duncan Watts, Six Degrees
Great books. I recommend that you buy those as well.
We will be using a wide range of other readings that will be available as .pdfs on CTools.
The best plan: Print these out as we go and compile them in a notebook.
Grading
There will be no midterm and no final. Grading will be based on three components:
(1) Work on homework, due once a week, consisting of hard copy answers to questions on
the reading and formulation of a question of your own for seminar discussion. I may
occasionally choose to substitute a short in-class quiz for written homework.
(2) Active participation, including but not limited to several seminar presentations that you
will be preparing with a partner from the class. Lecture sheets will be included here.
(3) Three projects done in the course: (i) a project graphing and analyzing the network of
your facebook contacts, (ii) an agent-based modeling project that you do with others as
a team, and (iii) a final paper applying some of the theoretical work we’ve developed.
Each of these will count for 1/3 of your grade. In (3), projects (i), (ii) and (iii) will count for
25%, 35%, and 40% of the total project grade.
Topics in order, with ● readings and ■ assignments in advance
Note: As we see how our investigations go, readings may change on short notice.
Week 1
9/2 Welcome to the course
Reading in advance for 9/4: ● Networks, Crowds, and Markets (NCM) chapter 1
9/4 Individual Behaviors, Social Dynamics: The Game
Week 2
Reading in advance for 9/9: ● Schelling, Micromotives and Macrobehavior chapter 1
○ “The Myth of the Ant Queen,” from Steven Johnson,
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities
and Software
○ “The Origins of a New Science,” from Duncan Watts, Six
Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age
Homework due on 9/9: ■ Questions on the reading
■Your question for the seminar
9/9 Seminar: Individual Behaviors, Social Dynamics
Reading in advance for 9/11: ● small worlds
NCM Chapter 2, through 2.3; chapter 3, through 3.2; chapter 20,
through 20.3
9/11 Six Degrees of Separation: Small Worlds
Week 3
Reading in advance for 9/16: ● “Small Worlds,” from Duncan Watts, Six Degrees: The
● “Small Worlds,” from Duncan Watts, Six Degrees: The
Science of a Connected Age
○ Duncan Watts & Steven Strogatz, “Collective
Dynamics
of ‘Small-world’ Networks”
○ Mark Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties”
Science of a Connected Age
○ Duncan Watts & Steven Strogatz, “Collective Dynamics
of ‘Small-world’ Networks”
○ Mark Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties”
Homework due on 9/16: ■ Questions on the reading
■Your question for the seminar
9/16 Seminar: Small Worlds
Reading in advance for 9/18: ● Preferential attachment
NCM
Chapter
18, 18.1The
– 18.6
● “Small Worlds,” from Duncan
Watts,
Six Degrees:
Science of a Connected Age
9/18 Popularity: One Way Social Networks
Form
○ Duncan
Watts & Steven Strogatz, “Collective
Dynamics
Week 4
of ‘Small-world’ Networks”
○ Mark Granovetter, “The Strength of Weak Ties”
Reading in advance for 9/23: ● “Beyond the Small World,” from Duncan Watts, Six
Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age.
○ from Albert-László Barabási, Linked: the New Science of
Networks
○ Albert-László Barabási & Reka Albert, “Emergence of
Scaling in Random Networks”
○ Reka Albert, Hawoong Jeong, Albert-László Barabási &
Reka Albert, “Attack and Error Tolerance of Complex
Networks”
Homework due on 9/23: ■ Questions on the reading
■ Your question for the seminar
9/23 Seminar: Preferential Attachment
Reading in advance for 9/25: ● Network properties
NCM chapter 2 all, chapter 3 3.3-3.5
9/25 How to Access and Graph Your Facebook Network
Guest Lecture Jon Atwell
Week 5
Reading in advance for 9/30: ● from Katie Börner, Soma Sanyal and Alessandro
Vespignani, Network Science
Homework due on 9/30: ■ The graph of your facebook network:
In (a) hard copy
(b) a powerpoint slide on data key
9/30 Seminar: Analyzing Real Networks
Reading in advance for 10/2: ● NCM Thresholds and information cascades
Chapter 16 16.1-16.2, Chapter 19 19.1-19.4
10/2 Tipping Points
Week 6
Reading in advance for 10/7: ● Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point: How Little Things
Can Make a Big Difference, pp. 3-29
○ The Tipping Point, chapter 2
○ The Tipping Point, chapter 3
○ The Tipping Point, chapters 4 - 5
○ Mark Granovetter, “Threshold Models of Collective
Behavior”
○ Josh Epstein, “Modeling Civil Violence: An Agent-Based
Computational Approach”
Homework due on 10/7: ■ Questions on the reading
■ Your question for the seminar
10/7 Project #1 Due: Network Analysis of Your Facebook Contacts
Seminar: Tipping Points in Social Dynamics
Reading in advance for 10/9: ● Game Theory
NCM Chapter 6, 6.1 – 6.7
10/9 Decision and Game Theory
Week 7
► 10/14 Reading Period – No Class
Reading in advance for 10/17: ● Robert Axelrod, from The Evolution of Cooperation
○ From Sylvia Nasar, A Beautiful Mind
○ From Grim, Mar & St. Denis, The Philosophical Computer
○ Preparation for The Spatialized Prisoner’s Dilemma
10/17 Seminar: Social Dynamics and Spatialized Game Theory
Week 8
Reading in advance for 10/21: ● The Schelling model
NCM Chapter 4, esp. 4.5
10/21 The Social Dynamics of De Facto Segregation
► No class 10/23
Reading in advance for 10/28: ● Thomas Schelling, from Micromotives and
Macrobehavior
○ Elizabeth Bruch & Robert D. Mare, “Neighborhood
Choice and Neighborhood Change”
Homework due on 10/28: ■ Questions on the reading
■ Your question for the seminar
Week 9
10/28 Prejudice and Segregation
Elizabeth Bruch visit
Reading in advance for 10/30: ● From Gordon W. Allport, The Nature of Prejudice
■ On-line racism test
10/30 Are You Prejudiced?
□ Group Projects assigned: the envelope please
Week 10
Homework in advance for 11/04: Working with NetLogo
11/04 Hands-on modeling in NetLogo
L
Homework in advance for 11/06: Work on group projects
11/06 Agent-based Modeling Lab: Work on the group projects
Week 11
Homework in advance for 10/28:
■ Writing up team projects in NetLogo
11/11 Project #2 Due: Write-up of Team Report in Agent-Based Modeling
Team presentations on NetLogo projects
Reading in advance for 11/13: ● Cultural diffusion
Robert Axelrod, “The Dissemination of culture – A
Model with Local Convergence and Global Polarization”
11/13 The Social Dynamics of Ideas
Week 12
Reading in advance for 11/18: ● Grim, Reade, Singer, Fisher & Majewicz, "What You
Believe Travels Differently: Information and Infection
Dynamics Across Sub-Networks,"
○ Michael Weisberg & Ryan Muldoon, “Epistemic
Landscapes and the Division of Cognitive Labor”
○ J. McKenzie Alexander, J. Himmelreich & C. J.
Thompson, “Epistemic Landscapes, Optimal Search and
the Division of Cognitive Labor”
Homework due 11/18: ■ Questions on the reading
■ Your question for the seminar
11/18 Seminar: The Social Dynamics of Ideas
Reading in advance for 11/20: ● from Alan I. Abramowitz, The Disappearing Center
11/20 Three Models of Opinion Polarization
Week 13
Reading in advance for 11/25: ● Structural Balance NCM Chapter 5
○ Rainer Hegselmann & Ulrich Krause, “Opinion
Dynamics and Bounded Confidence: Models, Analysis
and Simulation”
○ Robert Axelrod, “The Dissemination of culture – A
Model with Local Convergence and Global Polarization”
Homework due 11/25: ■ Questions on the reading
■ Your question for the seminar
11/25 Seminar: The Social Dynamics of Polarization
11/27 ► Thanksgiving – no class
Week 14
Reading in advance for 12/2: ● from Scott Page, The Difference: How the Power of
Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies
12/2 The Wisdom of Crowds
Reading in advance for 12/4: ● from Scott Page, The Difference: How the Power of
Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools and Societies
Homework due 12/4: ■ Questions on your reading
12/4 The Advantages of Diversity
Scott Page visit
Week 15
Reading in advance for 12/8: ● to be announced
○
○
Homework due 12/8: ■ Questions on your reading
■ Your question for the seminar
12/8 The final seminar
Project #3 Due 12/15: Exploring, Expanding or Applying what you’ve learned