Tragedy and Complexity

• In Event: Social Theory and Complexity Science: New Research Directions (Co-sponsored by Mathematical Sociology Section)

Abstract

Classical tragedy is defined by reversal, called Peripeteia. The most important reversal is between intentions and outcomes. The tragic form is one where the intentions of individuals are warped or thwarted by things that we now call aggregation problem, perverse outcomes, paradoxes of rationality, etc. People undertake to do one thing and produce something entirely different – usually not just orthogonal, but in fact directly opposite to what they want and desire. This fact leads to a close and unexplored relationship with complexity studies in social science. Both explore the difference between micro-level actions and macro-level outcomes. Because of this relationship, I argue here that tragedy provides a helpful, rich, and storied framework within with to communicate and transmit insight about social process and trade-offs that must be managed within complex systems.

Author

• Emily Erikson, Yale University