Michael Schultz

Hello Everyone

I'm a Ph.D. student in sociology at the University of California - Berkeley, studying collective action, social psychology, and organizational behavior. I have degrees in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Secondary Education.

Broadly speaking, I am interested in the uses of complex systems thinking in the social sciences that avoid Parsonian functionalism. At CSSS, I am hoping to gain insight into the assumptions implicit in a complex systems interpretations of human action and the social-theoretical implications of complexity. From a practical standpoint, I hope to learn about the necessary methodological considerations of modeling as a mode of inquiry in social science.

More specifically, I want to study how small group level attributes can be produced through individual level behaviors. I'm currently interested in questions about the dynamics of within vs. between group status considerations, public goods games and social dilemmas, and the social constraints on rationality.