From the latest issue of the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 2004 the book Reputation in Artificial Societies: Social Beliefs for Social Order
Conte, Rosaria and Paolucci, Mario Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, 2002,is reviewed by Flaminio Squazzoni of the Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Economics, University of Brescia, Italy.From his review.”This book deals with reputation as a socio-cognitive mechanism able to strengthen collective action and promote social order, both in social systems and in artificial systems, such as infosocieties, e-institutions and online communities. In the book, the reader can find a thorough survey on reputation in many disciplines, a sound socio-cognitive theory of reputation, and some agent-based simulations that allow one to appreciate the theory put forward by the authors.The subject of the book is intrinsically a transdisciplinary one and the possible applications of the theory described refer to many different fields. The transdisciplinarity suggested by the authors rests upon a “problem oriented” approach and a “process-oriented” method that allow them to overcome the unfruitful “turf wars” that are imposed by the division of labour among disciplines and sciences. The authors move with full awareness into the “structural holes” between different disciplines. They pass from evolutionary game theory to sociobiology, from cognitive science to economics, from political sciences to artificial intelligence, in search of a way to answer the question “what is reputation?” and to build a formal theory that can usefully be translated into agent-based models. From a theoretical and methodological point of view, this breadth is one of the main positive features of the book. Image and Reputation.It is undeniable that reputation, far from being a “frivolous” issue, is an increasingly recognised subject in different disciplines, such as sociology, sociobiology, cognitive science, political science, economics, business, evolutionary game theory and so forth. This increasing interest comes from the fact that reputation and other related social mechanisms (such as trust, reciprocity, altruism, and mutual monitoring) are understood as an appropriate framework to institutionalise the smooth running of complex and decentralised societies. In fact, it is generally recognised that trust and reputation are essential conditions for reciprocity, and consequently for co-operation and collective action, even more so in social settings where institutions, social monitoring and control are distributed…..”
Reputation in Artificial Societies: Social Beliefs for Social Order