We Need a Social Complexity Atlas
The study of social
complexity has developed over the last twenty-five years into a rather
advanced field of study, reaching into just about every area of social
inquiry – from sociology and economics to the public policy and urban
planning – to become one of the largest areas of research in the
complexity sciences.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6WLckqPsL1UMmFZOOv11qzeM18PbpHUC03MHfvCpz9g1QFlyFzrzWe-mZbBjcSZvBg4NFHN4NoCYYGwpOpEuhnX3-ICBRbOL9RQa_xKwAq4ANbMO7PjbQZqWTeLRzIzVXVMKlBfBIkBb/s320/Book+Cover.png)
Despite these
advances, the field is by no means a mature area of study, suffering
from a key list of challenges, all of which need addressing if it is to
truly become an established field of research. Some examples include a
methodological privileging of the micro over the macro; a rather
noncritical embrace of the latest developments in computational
modelling and big data and machine learning; the canonization of the
field’s core concepts such as self-organisation and emergence; and the
absence of a developed theory of power relations or inequality.
What is
needed, then, is a proper mapping of where the field has been, what is
presently taking place, and perhaps most important, what yet needs to be done, and with it a
more rigorous and critical cartography of where we are in 2020.
The Social Complexity Atlas with Edward Elgar
In response, my colleague Lasse Gerrits and I are writing a book, titled appropriately enought, The Social Complexity Atlas. We are publishing it in 2022 with Edward Elgar.Fellowship Institute of Advanced Study, University of Amsterdam
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzqWpvlcVHGZ_v1S52l8lTn5Ihyi76THcjiEopbpgEo8561Ep1Oc_MqPpuo8pOvG_EZYc4jTC48IM_ifqfBvbBgAZKfeuR4uvJvYunWss5fT6jmBJV93ZL5K46FwBuSqnfPyMuRu8jz7v/s320/Screenshot+2020-02-28+at+10.54.20.png)
Public Lecture 31 March 2020 (16:00PM - 18:00PM)
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