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This article presents an epistemological review of social simulation in archaeology, delimiting it as a practice, method and branch thereof. As a practice, social simulation is positioned amongst other intensive applications of digital technologies to the humanities and social sciences. As a method, we define it as a form of mathematical modelling that contains mechanisms, especially social ones, and which thus demands numerical solutions. We briefly present the characteristics of social simulation, including the central role of agent-based modelling. Finally, we contextualize the place of social simulation within archaeology, offering a brief review of applied examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a controversial dialogue between agent-based models (ABM), one of the most prominent computational simulation methods in the social sciences, and the situational strategic planning (SSP) developed by Carlos Matus, something that had not been done until now. This dialogue is relevant because Matus argues for the need to link up mathematical simulation methods with human simulation methods as a methodological framework for SSP. The aim of this article is to analyze the controversial relationship between the ABM and SSP in three dimensions: the conceptual, the historical, and the epistemological-political. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Polis (07176554) is the property of Polis - Revista Academica Universidad Bolivariana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Internacional de Sociología is the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales is the property of Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this research work is to identify the human and social development in rural areas where electric energy plays an important role in the way people make decisions, and its role in the life quality improvement, which is measured as the satisfaction of Maslow's basic needs. The described simulation model, based on agents (ABM), jointly with the results of performed simulations allow characterizing and concluding with regard to the impact of the incorporation of electric energy in the development of a rural region. The study exhibits that communities have the capability to adapt and generate an increase in the quality of life by means of the use of electric power in the day-to-day life, allowing to show that the incorporation of electric energy in the area is a tool that enables the development of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Agent Based Social Simulation (ABSS) is a clear alternative for advancing in the sociological knowledge from a new methodological perspective which has incorporates vocation power. Its application acquires special meaning when there is a big amount of data (quantitative, qualitative, longitudinal or transversal observations) and we want (and need) to arrive further than the constrains of each source and methodology. This will be useful in our attempt to improve the understanding, explanation and (when possible) prediction of the studied phenomena. Furthermore, it offers us the latent possibility of articulating more and better theory and «empiria», one of the failing subjects of Sociology, because it allows us to make experiments for verifying hypothesis, examine assumptions or test the veracity and coherence of the theoretical frameworks. The signers are members of the Group of Software Agents, Engineering and Applications (GRASIA) of the UCM and they are working in the modeling of a social process: the religious transformations of the Spanish society since 1980. The article will show from this experience and from the example of this specific application, the possibilities and expectations, together with the challenges, difficulties and limitations of the agent based simulation in the sociological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]