Agent-Based Computational Models of Reputation and Status Dynamics

Social scientists increasingly construe social life as a complex dynamic process, in which macro-level properties of social systems can emerge from individual’s actions in unexpected, unintended, and possibly undesirable ways. Reputation and status differentiation are important examples. This chapter discusses how agent-based computational modelling (ABCM) can be used to better understand the social processes by which the behavioural dynamics that underlie reputation formation can generate social inequality and contribute to status differentiation. The chapter begins with elaborating the foundations of ABCM and subsequently discusses a number of ABCM examples that address the emergence of reputation and status differentiation from simple but fundamental rules of social behaviour and interaction. To further illustrate the method, the chapter presents a formal model that explains the emergence of status differentiation from reputation formation. It closes with a discussion of important future directions in this area, in particular the role that gossip might play in future ABCM work on reputation and status.

ISBN:9780190494087

Publication year:2019