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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt">The Institute for Analytical Sociology Seminar</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Pa8" align="center" style="margin-bottom:1.0pt;text-align:center"><span class="A8"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Venue: KO301 (3rd floor)</span></span><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">,
<span class="A6"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Kopparhammaren 2, Norra Grytsgatan 10, Norrköping
</span></span></span><span class="A6"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="A6"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="Pa8" align="center" style="margin-bottom:1.0pt;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Thursday September 20 @ 11.00am</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Pa8" align="center" style="margin-bottom:1.0pt;text-align:center"><span lang="EN-US">__________________________________________________</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;mso-fareast-language:SV">
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;color:black;mso-fareast-language:SV">I grew it. Did I explain it? Unraveling the generative process in agent‑based models<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:18.0pt;color:#1D2129"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black;mso-fareast-language:SV">Francisco José León Medina<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black;mso-fareast-language:SV">University of Girona<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:14.0pt;color:#1D2129"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Abstract: </span><span lang="EN-GB">The motto of generative social science states that “if you didn’t grow it, you didn’t explain it”. But is generative sufficiency enough for a causal explanation? Even though different
scholars have pointed out that growing a virtual replica of a social phenomenon is insufficient for explaining it, most agent-based modelling analyses still have a strong focus on exploring under which conditions we get “the right output”, thereby neglecting
the understanding of the process that actually brings about that output. In this seminar, I develop the idea that Analytical Sociology should pay more attention to this task. The virtual process that takes place between the pressing of the “go” button and
the macro-level output of our interest can be surprising and is often far from being transparent. Therefore, unravelling the generative process must be stressed as a
<i>sine qua non</i> condition for a truly causal black box-free explanation. In this seminar, I explore some implications of this idea regarding what counts as a satisfactory explanation and how we assess the external validity of a model. To explain why the
focus on “getting the right” output persists, I suggest that the current definition of mechanisms could be leading us in the wrong direction. Finally, I also tackle the issue of how we should proceed to unravel and describe a micro-level causal chain of events.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:SV">Best regards<br>
Madelene Töpfer<br>
Administrator<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:SV"><img width="170" height="44" style="width:1.7708in;height:.4583in" id="_x0000_i1025" src="https://www.liu.se/mallar/signatur/liu_signatur_en.png" alt="Linköping University"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:SV">Institute for Analytical Sociology</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:SV"><br>
S-601 74 Norrköping<br>
Phone: +46 (0)11-36 32 91<br>
Mobile: +46 (0)700 89 66 97<br>
Visiting address: </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:SV">Kopparhammaren 2, Norra Grytsgatan 10, Campus Norrköping</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:SV">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:SV">Please visit us at
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:SV"><a href="http://www.liu.se/" title="www.liu.se"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black;text-decoration:none">www.liu.se</span></a>
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:SV"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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