Social Science Simulation — Origins, Prospects, Purposes

Abstract

This paper is about some history and some future development of com- puter simulation (Ostrom’s Third Symbol System) in the social sciences, as opposed to mathematical modelling (Ostrom’s Second Symbol System). Statistical mod- elling is mainstream, but it so often forgets about the process character of social life, whereas simulation often forgets about data. Concept driven simulation is defended, but data driven simulation is also pleaded for, taking into account that understanding a social process must precede its prediction.