This new edition of Quantitative
Sociodynamics presents a general strategy for interdisciplinary model building
and its application to a quantitative description of behavioral changes based on
social interaction processes. Originally, the crucial methods for the modeling
of complex systems (stochastic methods and nonlinear dynamics) were developed in
physics and mathematics, but they have very often proven their explanatory power
in chemistry, biology, economics and the social sciences as well. Quantitative
Sociodynamics provides a unified and comprehensive overview of the different
stochastic methods, their interrelations and properties. In addition, it
introduces important concepts from nonlinear dynamics (e.g. synergetics, chaos
theory). The applicability of these fascinating concepts to social phenomena is
carefully discussed. By incorporating decision-theoretical approaches, a
fundamental dynamic model is obtained, which opens new perspectives in the
social sciences. It includes many established models as special cases, e.g. the
logistic equation, the gravity model, some diffusion models, evolutionary game
theory and social field theory. Moreover, it implies numerous new results and is
relevant for various application areas, such as opinion formation, migration,
the self-organization of behavioral conventions, and the behavior of customers
and voters. Theoretical results are complemented and illustrated by numerous
computer simulations. Quantitative Sociodynamics is relevant both for social
scientists and natural scientists who are interested in the application of
stochastic and synergetics concepts to interdisciplinary topics.
