Looking Backwards into the Future: Mathematical Sociology Then and Now

Abstract

I reflect on the last 30 years of mathematical sociology from my point of view as a student of the field 30 years ago and how I expected the field to grow and develop. I discuss how the problems and prospects that concerned me 30 years ago are still relevant today. In particular, I elaborate on the intellectual frustrations faced by formal sociologists, the need for new mathematics to capture social science insights, the diversity of inquiry and lack of unification in mathematical sociology, and the need for formalists to offer empirically grounded models that appeal to the general reader on the basis of the empirical puzzles they explain.