Robin D. Fink

Governance of complex systems: results of a sociological simulation experiment

Social sciences have discussed the governance of complex systems for a long time. The following paper tackles the issue by means of experimental sociology, in order to investigate the performance of different modes of governance empirically. The simulation framework developed is based on Essers model of sociological explanation as well as on Kronebergs model of frame selection. The performance of governance has been measured by means of three macro and two micro indicators. Surprisingly, central control mostly performs better than decentralised coordination. However, results not only depend on the mode of governance, but there is also a relation between performance and the composition of actor populations, which has yet not been investigated sufficiently. Practitioner Summary: Practitioners can gain insights into the functioning of complex systems and learn how to better manage them. Additionally, they are provided with indicators to measure the performance of complex systems.

Autonome Technik als Herausforderung der soziologischen Handlungstheorie Autonomous Technology as a Challenge to the Sociological Theory of Action

Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Abhandlung entwickelt ein soziologisches Modell, welches das „Mit-Handeln“ von Technik beschreibt und in einer Weise operationalisiert, dass die Frage der Handlungsträgerschaft empirisch untersucht werden kann. Es wird gezeigt, dass die von der Actor-Network-Theory thematisierten Phänomene auch im Rahmen einer soziologischen Handlungstheorie betrachtet werden können, die sich auf das Esser’sche Modell soziologischer Erklärung stützt. Das Ergebnis ist ein Modell soziologischer Erklärung hybrider Systeme, das die Interaktion von menschlichen Akteuren und nicht-menschlichen Aktanten beschreibt. Zu dessen Überprüfung wurden Experimente in einem selbst programmierten Fahrsimulator durchgeführt. Deren Auswertung belegt, dass die Probanden den technischen Assistenzsystemen Handlungsträgerschaft zuschreiben und das Verhältnis Mensch-Technik als ein symmetrisches wahrnehmen. Zudem tendieren sie dazu, sich je nach Handlungsverteilung der Verfolgung bestimmter Ziele zu entledigen, obwohl nach den Spielregeln „humans“ und „non-humans“ gleichermaßen für die Verfolgung aller Ziele verantwortlich waren. Summary The following paper sketches a sociological model which describes the “coaction” of technology in a way that allows an empirical investigation of the question of non-human agency. Bruno Latour’s provocative arguments are taken as a starting point to show that a sociological theory of action, based on Hartmut Esser’s model of sociological explanation, is able to cope with these questions. In order to describe the interaction of human actors and non-human agents, we have, consequently, constructed a sociological model to explain hybrid systems. A car-driving experiment in which humans have to cooperate with computer-simulated driver assistant systems has been chosen to prove the potential of the model. The data show that human test persons indeed attribute agency to the technical systems. Additionally, they describe the relation of human and machine as symmetrical. Finally, we have discovered that test persons also tend to attribute responsibility for the achievement of certain objectives to the technical system - although the rules of the game distribute responsibility equally between humans and non-humans.