Complexity at the social science interface

Abstract

This article introduces a special issue of Complexity dedicated to the increasingly important element of complexity science that engages with social policy. We introduce and frame an emerging research agenda that seeks to enhance social policy by working at the interface between the social sciences and the physical sciences (including mathematics and computer science), and term this research area the "social science interface" by analogy with research at the life sciences interface. We locate and exemplify the contribution of complexity science at this new interface before summarizing the contributions collected in this special issue and identifying some common themes that run through them. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Enhancing Skills for Employment in the Workplace of the Future 2020 Using the Theory of Connectivity: Shared and Adaptive Personal Learning Environments in a Spanish Context

“…Another similarity found is that these skills are developed in consonance with the constant technological and socio-economic changes currently shaking the world, in the same way, that they make reference to Smart Cities. However, with regards to the rest of the skills studied such as computational thinking and virtual collaboration, the findings were not found to be similar to those described in the aforementioned report, given that no skill from the Page Executive Report [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] makes reference to ICT. Nevertheless, in the study from the Jarvis et al [22], we can find data with more similarities.…”

“…Sample selection was carried out following a multi-stage process. Firstly, a purposeful selection was made of Reception Centres with the greatest number of UFMs with ages reported between [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Sustainability 2019, 11, 4219 5 of 18 years. This age range has been considered in order to obtain a representative sample of UFM residents in southern Spain.…”

“…Nevertheless, educational systems for these skills are not formed to suit the alumni [13], nor is the model of interactions between the skills. This is important so that skills come together and operate efficiently in order to encourage the inclusion of adolescents in the workforce and in lifetime learning [14].…”

Social Crises: Signatures of Complexity in a Fast‐Growing Economy

“…The multiple factors emphasized in each one of its definitions have as a result that the task of finding a single definition remains incomplete [1]. The diversity of approaches to define the concept, its negative connotation, and its traditionally insufficient approximation, especially from social sciences [2][3][4], emphasize the importance of contributing to a more general understanding of the phenomenon [5]. Thus, we should address its essential characteristics rather than its scope or effects [6].…”

Towards a Complexity-Friendly Policy: Breaking the Vicious Circle of Equilibrium Thinking in Economics and Public Policy

“…Social systems are complex evolving systems whose behaviour depends upon links between many agents, all with heterogeneous beliefs, preferences, information and social structural positions that interact in subtle ways over significant space and time scales [26]. If policies do not consider these factors, interventions may miss their mark and create or reflect a world that does not exist [19].…”