In an ever more complex and interrelated world, a better understanding
of social systems and of the dynamics of their behavior is of crucial
im- portance. Many of the tools holding promise of potentially
significant contributions to the analysis of social systems have been,
or are being developed outside of the social sciences proper, mostly the
loose collec- tion of diverse scientific approaches called' systems
science' or, systems theory' . The editors - all of whom are involved in
social systems analysis - have made an attempt in this volume to pull
together several aspects of systems science which appear to them to be
of particular relevance to the study of social systems: Control systems,
stochastic systems, pattern recog- nition, fuzzy analysis, simulation,
and behavioral models. 29 authors from the disciplines of sociology,
social psychology, political science, management science, history,
behavioral science, economics, mathematics, engineering, and systems
science have contributed to this truly interdis- ciplinary effort. All
of them have made the attempt to write in a manner understandable by the
non-specialist. It is hoped that this volume will be of particular
usefulness to students in the social sciences. Most of the articles are
too short to provide much more than an initial stimulation. We trust
that the references provided by the authors will allow deeper
penetration into particular areas.