Growing a Unified Social Science

Abstract

How do social structures arise i17 a society? How can incentives plac ed on ildividual behavior shape the development of these social systems? These questions lie at the heart of many social sciences, and they are exactly what Joshua Epstein and Robert Axtcll explore in their new book, Gron'iyr rlrti/iiial Societies. However, this l7ew book addresses these old questions in a novcl manner: Epstein and Axtell provide a comprehensive expose of how adaptive, bottom-up computer simulation modeling can be applied to investigate the development of social systems while keeping track of the rolc of individual agents. This volun7r is a (first) research account of the 2()551 >