Boundary in Social Systems

Abstract

Over the last few years, the concept of boundary has been at the center of influential research agendas in anthropology, political science, social psychology, sociology, and economics [96]. Perhaps the most serious and pressing challenge in the social sciences is to find a working mathematical representation for social systems. Universal models for social systems must be defined in very high-dimensional spaces, with complicated structures, which have very little to do with the physical space. Nevertheless, if such systems are related to a certain physical territory, they can coexist and overlap. Studying social and economic systems in relation to the dynamics of their boundaries, and consequently considering the interactions occurring at the level of their boundaries, adds value and understanding to the research, particularly when one is concerned with the study of relational processes.