Computational Sociology: Reinventing Sociology for the Next Millennium

Abstract

This paper proposes a computational approach to sociology. I argue that computational sociology is not just another specialty within an already fragmented discipline but that it provides an opportunity to integrate traditionally disparate approaches within sociology and provides a foundation for transforming sociology in the 2Ist century. I discuss important changes in computing that offer new opportunities for sociology and illustrate those points with examples of ongoing sociological research. The potential advantages of such an approach are identified and some of the characteristics of computational sociology are described. Keywords: sociology, computers, computational sociology, paradigm change, research methodology.