Relational models for social systems

Abstract

In recent years, much attention has been focused on the construction of models for complex systems. Although many successful models of physical and biological systems have been developed, it has been found more difficult to model large social systems. Much of the difficulty can be attributed to the attempt to use functional models adapted from the physical sciences that are not suitable for the essentially relational context of social systems. If specifically relational models are used, it becomes possible to capture much of the complexity missed by functional models. Guidelines for the use of relational models for social systems are proposed, and several widely used relational models are described and evaluated.