Networks Approach in Modeling Sociological Agent as Combination of Non-Determined Stochastic Automata
Networks Approach in Modeling Sociological Agent as Combination of Non-Determined Stochastic Automata

Summary/Abstract: The paper applies the ‘indirect network approach’, developed earlier in the framework of Actor-Network Approach to the modeling a complex network dynamics. It attempts to avoid the idea of ‘guidance’ of a given form of (social) life being modelled, which has long been dominating in traditional sociology. Resent theories have demonstrated the fruitfulness of a different approach, considering social dynamics in terms of “praxis, not poiesis” (De Vries 2007). The sociological ‘input’ in the model we are developing consists in 1) pushing to its limits the idea of opportunistic evolution of given form of (social) life; 2) taking ‘ex post’ stand to the processes going on in it; 3) considering the properties of the identified entities as an outcome of the evolution and not as pre-given attributes, and 4) using specially designed and collected sociological data to verify the mathematical models. The paper attempts to model the agents, which take part in different sociological networks via formal methods of discreet mathematics and more precisely using the stochastic finite automata approach. The aim is to develop these models in the form of computer programs (software) and to test them on real sociological data. The paper presents the first step of the authors in the realization of these aims.

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