Applications of Complex Systems in Socio-Economic Inequality Research: A Preliminary Survey

Abstract

The ideas drawn from broadly defined systems thinking, including complex systems studies, have already been used to describe and explain socio-economic inequality, both directly and indirectly. Most of these works are good examples of applications of middle-range theories of socio-economic inequality, but many issues still need to be studied. The aim of this paper is to survey the different applications of complexity studies in the extant research on socio-economic inequality. Although inequality is a common phenomenon worldwide, attention in this paper is paid to the developed world, where poverty is not such a significant issue and where the ‘information revolution’ has had a greater impact.