PETER DITTRICH () (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, D-07745 Jena, Germany) LARS WINTER () (Institute of Sociology, RWTH Aachen University, D-52062 Aachen, Germany)
Abstract
Because sociology is seeking mechanisms for explaining social phenomena, we discuss in this paper whether and how the metaphor of a chemical reaction network can be employed as a formal mechanism to describe social and political systems. A reaction network is a quite general concept that allows one to model a variety of dynamical systems. Furthermore, a set of powerful tools can infer potential dynamical properties from the network structure. Using a toy model of the political system inspired by Luhmann, we demonstrate how chemical organization theory can be applied and can give insight into the structure and dynamics of the resulting model. We show how chemical organization theory allows one to identify an overlapping hierarchy of important subsystems in these networks. Simulations reveal how this hierarchy constrains the potential dynamical behavior of the model.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.