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Astrosociology will progress and develop as a viable multidisciplinary field as well as a potential subfield of sociology more thoroughly and more quickly when a modern college and university level course is developed and offered to students interested in this unique sociological approach. The Introduction to Astrosociology course should present modern sociological issues from the perspective of the impact of space exploration, settlement, and commercialization as they apply to the micro and macro levels of influences on the major institutions of society. The intent of this paper is to outline a syllabus that will address the perspectives, concepts, and theories found in most introductory and applied sociology courses, but with an emphasis on the concepts, definitions, and perspectives of Astrosociology. This presentation outlines a basic topic and subject format for the course syllabus and opens for discussion the need to include or exclude material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astrosociology is a new and emerging field that is a significant departure in the study of human behavior and interaction. The development of this field is important because wherever there are humans in space, their society, culture, and psychology will follow and demand consideration in this new environment. As it currently stands, neither the social sciences nor the hard sciences can provide a suitable curriculum for this new field. This paper will suggest courses of study for both, an undergraduate level and a graduate level astrosociology program as well as possible difficulties and challenges that both professors and students could encounter. These difficulties could include issues with funding a program that could be considered “unusual” or “unnecessary,” as well as the lack of support within both the social sciences and the natural sciences. The interdisciplinary nature of the program also receives discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we prepare to go back to the Moon on a permanent basis, it behooves us to take advantage of our return to the Moon by increasing our knowledge base so as to make all aspects of survival possible. The standard approach remains fixed on meeting the challenges related to power, physical habitat, and others associated with the physical environment and personal survival. While this traditional facet of space settlement must be addressed in a successful manner, the other set of variables to the equation for human survival in space receive little attention. In other words, we tend to focus so strongly on getting to a location and setting up a physical habitat that we overlook what it will require to survive in our new social world once the physical environment is functioning properly. We should take care now to begin formal consideration of the psychological, social, and cultural realities that will exist once we arrive. Plans starting with the very first Moon base should integrate research objectives that both (1) construct the integral physical elements of an isolated habitat and (2) study how the new social system operates subsequently. In fact, we should involve social scientists in planning as many of the latter issues as possible before the mission begins. This dual approach will serve as a first step to acquiring the critical knowledge necessary for human beings to live in isolated space environments situated too far away from the Earth that practical assistance is not readily available. Astrosociology, being a multidisciplinary social scientific field, can serve to unite social scientists interested in space research to work together on this issue and others in a formal manner. This, in turn, will make it possible for them to collaborate with space scientists and engineers in order to foster a fully comprehensive approach to make space settlements livable on a long-term basis. This collaboration, involving natural scientists and social scientists working together for the common goal of implementing sustainable space societies and conducting relevant research to improve the next project, represents a fundamental shift to a new paradigm currently unfamiliar. This paper lays out the basics for this new paradigm, for consideration by both the social science community and the space community. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a number of reasons, the construction of a single space colony represents a future social reality strongly likely to play itself out repeatedly as the twenty-first century advances. As early plans are considered, we must take into account that societies on Earth serve to carry out a variety of life functions and, in so doing, must meet the social needs of their citizens. While the proper engineering/construction of space habitats is necessary to ensure survivability of the inhabitants of a physical environment in space, it remains insufficient to ensure proper functioning of a social environment in space. This paper assumes that the physical environment is adequate to sustain life reliably (that is, to provide life support) and focuses instead on issues related to the sustainability of a society in space from primarily a sociological perspective. The astrosociological argument serving as a central theme here is that we must carefully consider research findings of Earth-based societies and their communities and apply the sociological lessons learned to the planning of space colonies. Moreover, the astrosociological perspective can serve to provide a formal mechanism for collaboration between social scientists and space scientists so that construction of a particular space colony proceeds based on the greatest level of understanding possible. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests a generalized distribution of response times to new information ∼ t-b for human populations in the absence of deadlines. This has important implications for psychological and social studies as well the study of dynamical networks such as the WWW. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cybernetics, systems thinking or systems theory, have been viewed as instruments of enhancing predictive, normative and prescriptive capabilities of the social sciences, beginning from microscale-management and ending with various reference to the global system. Descriptions, explanations and predictions achieved thanks to various systems ideas were also viewed as supportive for potential governance of social phenomena. The main aim of the paper is to examine what could be the possible applications of modern systems thinking in predictive, normative and prescriptive approaches in modern social sciences, beginning from management theory and ending with global studies. Attention is paid not only to “classical” mathematical systems models but also to the role of predictive, normative and prescriptive interpretations of analogies and metaphors associated with application of the classical (“first order cybernetics”) and modern (“second order cybernetics”, “complexity theory”) systems thinking in social sciences. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]