Agent-Based Modeling:Advancing Efforts in Action-Structure Mutual Construction Research
The running of complex social system takes on the mutual construction of action and structure,which is a dual process with multiple levels Current theoretical research provides subjective interpretations of the relationship between the two,but often cannot be supported by evidence of objective processes;quantitative research can objectively reveal changes of states and trends,but it is difficult to collect data on the linkage of action and structure.Agent-Based Modeling(ABM)can integrate the flexibility of theoretical research and the objectivity of quantitative research to advance the mutual construction research.It uses the mechanism design to simulate individual actions,uses the emergence concept to study the process"from action to structure",and uses the learning tool to study the process"from structure to action".ABM largely expands the knowledge boundaries of sociological studies through fitting real-world outcomes and inferencing counterfactual outcomes.ABM should combine theoretical research and quantitative methods to build a methodological ecology of computational sociology and to help form and develop a domestic academic community.
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