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Intro -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Social Simulation for a Digital Society: Introduction -- References -- Part I: Philosophical and Technical Considerations -- Chapter 2: Ontological Politics in a World of Political Ontologies: More Realistic (Human) Agents for the Anthropocene? -- Introduction -- Complex Problems and the Integration Imperative -- Agent-Based Models and Qualitative Inquiry -- A Philosophical and Sociological Critique -- ABM's Methodological Individualism -- Simplification Versus Messy Reality -- Colonisation, Collaboration and Depictions Otherwise -- Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 3: The Art of Iterating: Update-Strategies in Agent-Based Simulation -- Introduction -- Background -- Agent-Based Simulation -- A Discrete Game: Prisoners Dilemma -- A Continuous Game: Heroes & -- Cowards -- Related Research -- A New Terminology -- ABS Properties -- ABS Update-Strategy: Sequential -- ABS Update-Strategy: Parallel -- ABS Update-Strategy: Concurrent -- ABS Update-Strategy: Actor -- ABS Toolkits -- Case Studies -- Prisoners Dilemma -- Heroes & -- Cowards -- Conclusion and Future Research -- References -- Chapter 4: Using Parallel Computing to Improve the Scalability of Models with BDI Agents -- Introduction -- Related Works -- Cognitive Agent Architectures -- Parallelization of a Simulation -- Parallel Cognitive and Emotional Architecture -- Case Study -- Conclusion -- References -- Part II: Applications to Norm Diffusion and Collective Action -- Chapter 5: Information Diffusion as a Mechanism for Natural Evolution of Social Networks -- Introduction -- Model Design -- Link Formation -- Centrality as Influence -- Preferential Attachment -- Equivalent Influence -- Link Decay -- Model Proof of Concept: Social License to Operate -- Model Validation and Discussion -- Concluding Remarks -- References.

Recent Western literature concerning the political determinants of economic and social outcomes has primarily concentrated on regime types and the effectiveness of state institutions. While this literature has been influential among scholars of and in the Middle East and North Africa, there has also been an emphasis in the region on the interests and networks of economic and political elites—the interactions between rulers, elites, and the broader citizenry—to explain divergent policy outcomes. This is largely due to the inability of dominant mainstream institutional and structural theories to explain much of what has been observed in the region, viewing it as exceptional in its authoritarianism and resistance to global trends. In fact, the seeds for a more sophisticated understanding can be found in the literature on the Arab world that emphasizes relational dynamics between political and economic actors. Synthesizing the insights of scholars of the region has the potential to contribute more broadly to global debates on how political factors and conditions within states shape the quality of life experienced by their residents. Such a shift to viewing regimes as networks provides a useful framework for bridging the broader trends in political science with the work emanating from scholarship on the Middle East and North Africa.

After the collapse of the bipolar world, the neoliberal mainstream emerged in the global hierarchy of social sciences, built on three axiomatic pillars: Western domination, capitalism (free market) and liberalism (the value of individual autonomy). Nowadays, one can more and more often witness criticism and disintegration of the mainstream, which claimed the universality of descriptions and legitimation of modern societies that have reached the end of history in the form of open-access liberal market democracies. The purpose of the article is to find out how transformations of the prevailing political and economic orders, configurations of the subjects of geopolitical dominance and their legitimate metaphors determine the direction of changes in the social sciences mainstream. The hypothesis of the research is that the prevailing principles of stratification and distribution of public resources will be less and less valuable and institutionally related to capitalism, market and democracy, since an appeal to the latter does not lead to an increase in the available opportunities for the majority of the population in practice. The global change in social ontology, the structure of economic reproduction and legitimate foundations of the political order bring about a drop in the credibility and relevance of mainstream concepts focused on the axiomatics of market values and liberal rhetoric. Intellectual attempts to restore the relevance of the neoliberal mainstream through the construction of local utopias (flat world, creative class, knowledge economy, etc.), the introduction of complementary concepts of civil repair (J. Alexander), sociocultural trauma (P. Shtompka), unworthy government (bad governance), dependence on previous development (path dependence) or gauge (N. Rozov) do not save from growing conceptual stretch. Formation of a society without tangible economic growth and a declining need for mass labor leads to the inevitable transformation of the mainstream. Alternative and peripheral theories that describe the contours of a global future mainly in non-market, non-capitalist and, possibly, non-liberal categories are becoming more influential. These are concepts that fix new formats for the distribution of public resources, less and less connected with the market, democracy and hegemony of the West, but increasingly – with rental mechanisms, distributive political regulation and differentiated value of different social groups for the national state. Acknowledgements. The article has been supported by a grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) and the Expert Institute of Social Research ("опн"). Project no. 20-011-31025 "Alternatives to Political Mainstream amidst the Crisis of the Global World Order".

'In diesem Beitrag wird das Verfahren der multiplen Imputation anhand von Datensätzen aus dem International Social Survey Programme diskutiert. Da es in den meisten Variablen fehlende Werte gibt, die in vielen unterschiedlichen Kombinationen vorkommen, werden die Imputations in mehreren Schritten durchgeführt. Als erstes werden die Angaben bei den sozio-demografischen Merkmalen ersetzt, da es hier in der Regel nur relativ wenige fehlende Werte gibt. Bei Blöcken von Items werden nur deren Summenwerte geschätzt, was die Aufgabe der Imputation vereinfacht, ohne daß dabei auf wichtige Informationen verzichtet wird. Ein weiterer Vorteil dieser Vorgehensweise ist, daß die Anzahl der einzusetzenden Werte reduziert wird.' (Autorenreferat)

This review takes stock of contemporary social science research on homelessness. Research on homelessness in the 1980s has been prompted by the increased numbers and visibility of homeless persons including men, women, and families, as well as young people without families. Most empirical research employs a working definition of homelessness as the condition of those people who are without a permanent place to live. However, a wide range in perspectives differ over what homelessness is. In part, this reflects recognition of some the dynamics of homelessness that include intermittent movement in and out of homeless situations. But it also reflects changes in social values over what constitutes adequate housing. Research shows that the population of homeless persons is diverse, although most homeless persons are young and single. Many have severe chronic problems including mental illness, alcoholism, physical disabilities, and poor health. A significant number have criminal histories. Many were raised in foster care situations. All suffer from economic deprivation, and many have experienced long-term unemployment. Considerable disagreement exists over the number of homeless persons, in part because the scarcity of resources to address this problem politicizes the debate. There is also strong disagreement over the root causes of homelessness. Debate over the causes of homelessness is caught up in whether the focus of research should be on structural forces that permit homelessness to occur or the immediate reasons why people become homeless. Research now suggests that the extreme situation of homelessness may be more accurately portrayed as the result of the convergence of many factors that drive this phenomenon, including housing market dynamics, housing and welfare policy, economic restructuring and the labor market, and personal disabilities. Policies designed to ameliorate homelessness have been inadequate to stem the tidal forces that produce such severe destitution, and this trend is likely to continue. Future important directions include addressing the role of employment and social ties in producing homelessness, comparing the economic and social situation of homeless and non-homeless persons, evaluating programs designed to aid homeless persons, and developing international comparisons of homelessness.

An important concern for political scientists is the extent to which the discipline has progressed as a science. Political science has based its claim to being a science on its ability to construct models that predict as well as explain political phenomena. We examine the role that philosophers of science have given to prediction in science generally, and then note examples from the history of science that demonstrate a varied role for prediction in differing sciences. A review of the literature on predicting congressional and presidential election outcomes indicates the impressive success of predictive models. Nonetheless, such models are often open to the criticism that they lack a firm theoretical foundation.

This article examines how the special theoretical significance of the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) is affected by attempts to apply relativist-constructivism to technology. The article shows that the failure to confront key analytic ambivalences in the practice of SSK has compromised its original strategic significance. In particular, the construal of SSK as an explanatory formula diminishes its potential for profoundly reconceptualizing epistemic issues. A consideration of critiques of technological determinism, and of some empirical studies, reveals similar analytic ambivalences in the social study of technology (SST). The injunction to consider "technology as text" is critically examined. It is concluded that a reflexive interpretation of this slogan is necessary to recover some of the epistemological significance lost in the constructivist move from SSK to SST.