Editing Social complexity (section)

==Areas of application==
In the first decade of the 21st century, the diversity of areas of application has grown<ref>Saberi, Mohammad Karim, Alireza Isfandyari-Moghaddam and Sedigheh Mohamadesmaeil (2011). "Web Citations Analysis of the JASSS: the First Ten Years." [http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/14/4/22.html ''Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation'', 14:(4), 22].</ref> as more sophisticated methods have developed. Social complexity theory is applied in studies of social [[cooperation]] and [[public goods]];<ref>Nowak, Martin and Roger Highfield (2011). ''Super Cooperators: Altruism, Evolution, and Why We Need Each Other to Succeed''. New York, NY: Free Press.</ref> [[Altruism (ethics)|altruism]];<ref>Hang, Ye, Fei Tan, Mei Ding, Yongmin Jia and Yefeng Chen (2011). "Sympathy and Punishment: Evolution of Cooperation in Public Goods Game." [http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/14/4/20.html ''Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation'', 14(4): 20].</ref>  [[education]];<ref>Mason, Mark (2008). ''Complexity Theory and the Philosophy of Education''. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell (Educational Philosophy and Theory Special Issues).</ref> global civil society <ref>Castellani, Brian. (2018). "The Defiance of Global Commitment: A Complex Social Psychology. Routledge complexity in social science series." doi:10.4324/9781351137140.</ref> [[collective action]] and [[social movement]]s;<ref>Lohmann Susanne (1994). "Dynamics of Informational Cascades: The Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig, East Germany, 1989–1991," ''World Politics'', 47: 42–101.</ref><ref>Chesters, Graeme and Ian Welsh (2006). ''Complexity and Social Movements: Protest at the Edge of Chaos." London: Routledge (International Library of Sociology).''</ref> [[social inequality]];<ref>Castellani, Brian et al. (2011). "Addressing the U.S. Financial/Housing Crisis: Pareto, Schelling and Social Mobility."[http://cch.ashtabula.kent.edu/publications/Addressing%20the%20U.S.%20Financial%20&%20Housing%20Crisis.pdf Working Paper].</ref> workforce and [[unemployment]];<ref>Hedström, Peter and Yvonne Åberg (2011). "Social interaction and youth unemployment." ''Analytical Sociology and Social Mechanisms'', Pierre Demeulenaere (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref>Yilmaz, Levent (2011). "Toward Multi-Level, Multi-Theoretical Model Portfolios for Scientific Enterprise Workforce Dynamics." [http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/14/4/2.html ''Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation'', 14(4): 2.]</ref> [[policy analysis]];<ref>Jervis, Robert (1998). ''System Effects: Complexity in Political and Social Life''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.</ref><ref>Elliott, Euel and L. Douglas Kiel (eds.) (2000). ''Nonlinear Dynamics, Complexity and Public Policy''. Hauppauge NY: Nova Science Publishers.</ref> [[health care systems]];<ref>Brian Castellani, Rajeev Rajaram, J. Galen Buckwalter, Michael Ball and Frederic Hafferty (2012). [https://www.springer.com/public+health/book/978-3-319-09733-6 "Place and Health as Complex Systems: A Case Study and Empirical Test"]. ''SpringerBriefs in Public Health.''</ref> and [[innovation]] and [[social change]],<ref>Leydesdorff, Loet (2006). ''The Knowledge-Based Economy Modeled, Measured, Simulated''. Boca Raton, FL: Universal-Publishers .</ref><ref>Lane, D.; Pumain, D.; Leeuw, S.E. van der; West, G. (eds.) (2009). ''Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change''. New York, NY: Springer (Methodos Series, Vol. 7).</ref> to name a few. A current international scientific research project, the [[Seshat (project)|Seshat: Global History Databank]], was explicitly designed to analyze changes in social complexity from the [[Neolithic Revolution]] until the [[Industrial Revolution]].

As a [[Middle range theory (sociology)|middle-range]] theoretical platform, social complexity can be applied to any research in which [[social interaction]] or the outcomes of such interactions can be observed, but particularly where they can be [[Measurement|measured]] and expressed as [[Continuous function (set theory)|continuous]] or [[Discrete mathematics|discrete]] data points. One common criticism often cited regarding the usefulness of complexity science in sociology is the difficulty of obtaining adequate data.<ref>Stewart, Peter (2001). "Complexity Theories, Social Theory, and the Question of Social Complexity." ''Philosophy of the Social Sciences'', 31(3): 323–360.</ref> Nonetheless, application of the concept of social complexity and the analysis of such complexity has begun and continues to be an ongoing field of inquiry in sociology. From [[childhood]] friendships and [[teen pregnancy]]<ref name="CCS-MMT" /> to [[criminology]]<ref>Lee, Ju-Sung. (2001). "Evolving Drug Networks." [http://www.casos.cs.cmu.edu/ Carnegie Mellon Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS)] Conference Presentation (unpublished).</ref> and [[counter-terrorism]],<ref>Carley, Kathleen (2003). "Destabilizing Terrorist Networks." ''Proceedings of the 8th International Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium''. Conference held at the National Defense War College: Washington D.C., Evidence Based Research, Track 3. [http://www.dodccrp.org/events/2003/8th_ICCRTS/pdf/021.pdf (Electronic Publication).] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041218014917/http://www.dodccrp.org/events/2003/8th_ICCRTS/pdf/021.pdf |date=2004-12-18 }}</ref> theories of social complexity are being applied in almost all [[Subfields of sociology|areas of sociological research]].

In the area of [[Communications theory|communications research]] and [[informetrics]], the concept of self-organizing systems appears in mid-1990s research related to scientific communications.<ref>[[Loet Leydesdorff|Leydesdorff, Loet]] (1995). ''The Challenge of Scientometrics: The development, measurement, and self-organization of scientific communications''. Leiden: DSWO Press, Leiden University.</ref> [[Scientometrics]] and [[bibliometrics]] are areas of research in which discrete data are available, as are several other areas of social communications research such as [[sociolinguistics]].<ref name="CCS-MMT" /> Social complexity is also a concept used in [[semiotics]].<ref>Dimitrov, Vladimir and Robert Woog (1997). "Studying Social Complexity: From Soft to Virtual Systems Methodology." [http://www.complex-systems.com/pdf/11-6-5.pdf Complex Systems, 11:(6)].</ref>