Chaos Theory and Its Implications for Social Science Research
基于混沌理论的数学原理，论证社会科学中预测和控制系统行为的目标常常无法实现，并指出该理论对个体、群体和组织等各类实体均适用，为社会科学研究提供了新的理论视角。
Based on theoretical and mathematical principles of chaos theory, we argue that the customary social science goals of "prediction" and "control" of systems behavior are sometimes, if not usually, unobtainable. Specifically, chaos theory shows how it is possible for nearly identical entities embedded in identical environments to exhibit radically different behaviors, even when the underlying systems are extremely simple and completely deterministic. Furthermore, chaos theory arguments are general enough to apply to any type of entity, including individuals, groups, and organizations, and therefore they are relevant to a large domain of social science problems. As a result, this paper concludes with six familiar claims about the study of social phenomena for which chaos theory provides new theoretical arguments.