Sociohistory: An information theory of social changef

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to provide a framework, or paradigm, for estimating the logical past or future possibilities of a socioculture. These possibilities are stochastic in nature and form a sociohistory. A framework for the sociohistory must therefore be statistical in nature and, to help in identifying its cultural trends, also epistemological. The trends that are so identified can help an inquirer pose sensible new questions, of the What if? form, about the past or future dynamics of the socioculture. © 2007 Springer-Verlag London.