Claude Vautier

Using Soclab for a Rigorous Assessment of the Social Feasibility of Agricultural Policies

This paper presents a theoretical and methodological framework to take into consideration the social dimension in a sustainable development project. To do this, the authors have developed the SocLab software environment, which implements a formalization of a well-established sociological theory, and enables the modeling of social organizations, to analyze their properties and to simulate social actors’ behaviors. SocLab was used to assess the social acceptability of new agricultural practices more in line with the preservation of water resources and natural environments, in a well defined context. The paper shows how it was used and presents the main results.

Compte rendu d’une recherche interdisciplinaire entre sociologues et informaticiens. De la sociologie de l’action organisée au logiciel SocLab

We report a collaboration between sociologists and computer scientists about the formalization of a well-experienced theory, the sociology of the organized action. After a brief introduction to this theory, the paper presents our formalization of this theory and a sample example of its application. The following sections address the validity of the results obtained in this way, the scientific outcomes and the requirements of an interdisciplinary collaboration between sociologists and computer scientists.