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Manifest functions are the consequences that people see, observe or even expect. It is explicitly stated and understood by the participants in the relevant action. The manifest function of a rain dance, according to Merton in his 1957 Social Theory and Social Structure, is to produce rain, and this outcome is intended and desired by people participating in the ritual.
Arthur P. Dempster at the Workshop on Theory of Belief Functions (Brest, 1 April 2010).. The theory of belief functions, also referred to as evidence theory or Dempster–Shafer theory (DST), is a general framework for reasoning with uncertainty, with understood connections to other frameworks such as probability, possibility and imprecise probability theories.
Computational sociology is a branch of sociology that uses computationally intensive methods to analyze and model social phenomena. Using computer simulations, artificial intelligence, complex statistical methods, and analytic approaches like social network analysis, computational sociology develops and tests theories of complex social processes through bottom-up modeling of social interactions.
A sociological theory is a supposition that intends to consider, analyze, and/or explain objects of social reality from a sociological perspective, [1]: 14 drawing connections between individual concepts in order to organize and substantiate sociological knowledge.
Social simulation is a research field that applies computational methods to study issues in the social sciences.The issues explored include problems in computational law, psychology, [1] organizational behavior, [2] sociology, political science, economics, anthropology, geography, engineering, [2] archaeology and linguistics (Takahashi, Sallach & Rouchier 2007).
Closely related to social technology is the term social engineering. Thorstein Veblen used 'social engineering' in 1891, but suggested that it was used earlier. [16] In the 1930s both 'social engineering and 'social technology' became associated with the large scale socio-economic policies of the Soviet Union.
Developmental systems theory (DST) is an overarching theoretical perspective on biological development, heredity, and evolution. [1] It emphasizes the shared contributions of genes , environment, and epigenetic factors on developmental processes.
(1) Rational Choice Theory and James S. Coleman: After his 1964 pioneering Introduction to Mathematical Sociology, Coleman continued to make contributions to social theory and mathematical model building and his 1990 volume, Foundations of Social Theory was the major theoretical work of a career that spanned the period from 1950s to 1990s and ...