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Introduction to Computational Social Science

Principles and Applications

  • Textbook
  • © 2014

Overview

Authors:
  1. Claudio Cioffi-Revilla

    1. George Mason University, Fairfax, USA

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  • Introduces the key concepts in computational social science, providing formal definitions and a glossary
  • Describes the scope of each sub-field, covering topics on information extraction, social networks, complexity theory and social simulations
  • Discusses such methodological tools as extracting entities from text, computing social network indices and building an agent-based model
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Texts in Computer Science (TCS)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XXXIII
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  2. Introduction

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 1-21

  3. Computation and Social Science

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 23-66

  4. Automated Information Extraction

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 67-88

  5. Social Networks

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 89-117

  6. Social Complexity I: Origins and Measurement

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 119-144

  7. Social Complexity II: Laws

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 145-170

  8. Social Complexity III: Theories

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 171-221

  9. Simulations I: Methodology

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 223-247

  10. Simulations II: Variable-Oriented Models

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 249-271

  11. Simulations III: Object-Oriented Models

    • Claudio Cioffi-Revilla
    Pages 273-303

  12. Back Matter

    Pages 305-320
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Keywords

About this book

This reader-friendly textbook is the first work of its kind to provide a unified Introduction to Computational Social Science (CSS). Four distinct methodological approaches are examined in detail, namely automated social information extraction, social network analysis, social complexity theory and social simulation modeling. The coverage of these approaches is supported by a discussion of the historical context, as well as by a list of texts for further reading. Features: highlights the main theories of the CSS paradigm as causal explanatory frameworks that shed new light on the nature of human and social dynamics; explains how to distinguish and analyze the different levels of analysis of social complexity using computational approaches; discusses a number of methodological tools; presents the main classes of entities, objects and relations common to the computational analysis of social complexity; examines the interdisciplinary integration of knowledge in the context of social phenomena.

Reviews

From the book reviews:

“This 300 pages book a very good introduction to CSS, as it covers all relevant aspects that are fundamental to start a CSS research. … the book could be used for teaching methodological aspects of modeling in the social sciences … . Claudio-Cioffi’s book is a must read for any beginner of CSS. … It is a great synthesis of the main achievements in this field that could be fruitfully adopted by anyone teaching CSS as an introductory guide.” (František Kalvas, jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk, February, 2015)

“It is a nice introduction for beginners to grasp the fundamentals of CSS. … This well-organized book provides a timely and comprehensive systematic introduction to CSS. The chapters are relatively independent. … Although this book is intended as a CSS textbook for graduate students … anyone who is interested in the fundamentals of CSS would benefit from reading it.” (Chenyi Hu, Computing Reviews, August, 2014)

Authors and Affiliations

  • George Mason University, Fairfax, USA

    Claudio Cioffi-Revilla

About the author

Dr. Claudio Cioffi-Revilla is Professor of Computational Social Science, founding and former Chair of the Department of Computational Social Science and founding and current Director of the Center for Social Complexity at George Mason University, VA, USA.

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