The process of defining sociophysics and econophysics as fields of study

Abstract

The adaptation of physical science methodologies to the study of social and economic phenomena gave rise to the idea of sociophysics and economophysics as fields of study.The idea of studying society as a `` social physics '' was already present in the ideas of precursors of sociology such as Comte and Quéletet, but this approach is considered outdated or even dangerous by many social scientists, and this ideia affects their opinion about sociophysics, even though sociophysics might be considered as a phenomenon distinct from the original ideas of social physics. Other objections common to sociophysics relate to the greater complexity of social phenomena in relation to physical phenomena and to the fact that the observer himself is part of the studied objects of social studies.It is a recurring idea that the complexity of human being prevent its study through mathematical equations. This idea does not seem fully justified to us because, in the sociophysical and econophysical studies that we analyzed, mathematical models do not appear as the only tools, but as additional analytical resources, which does not preclude the reference to observations and data from sociological, psychological and economic studies. It is not reasonable to think that the study of a more complex system is hampered by the inclusion of more analysis tools and methodological possibilities.Similar objections are also made to econophysics, which can also be understood as a social science, but the biggest conflict between econophysicists and economists concerns the fact that these professionals often use the same concepts and methodologies, so that it is difficult to define boundaries between their fields of activity.In general, the econophysics approach is familiar to economists, who are more accustomed to statistical analysis and mathematical models. Most econophysics and sociophysics studies could equally well be classified in other fields of study: financial economics, mathematical sociology, dynamic systems, system dynamics, game theory, complexity theory, etc. Complexity theory, under the name `` complex systems '', has been cited as an eminently multidisciplinary area, offering an opportunity for greater interaction between economophysicists and sociophysicists with professionals from other areas.