Art and Culture and Ideological Systems

Art, cultural and ideological systems can also be interpreted as being complex adaptive socioeconomic systems, consisting of interacting resources and agents. In this context, resources include artefacts, ideas, beliefs, values and norms, while agents include individuals, groups, institutions and organizations that create, hold and disseminate ideas and beliefs. In an ideological system, agents can have heterogeneous goals, beliefs and behaviours and interact with each other through communication, persuasion, socialization and mobilization. These interactions can create feedback loops that reinforce or modify their behaviour and the level of used resources. Examples for ideological systems can include political campaigns and referendums, which can influence public opinions and social groups behaviour. Art and culture-related systems consist of resources like art, literature, music, language, symbols and other cultural artefacts, while agents include artists, groups, institutions and organizations that produce and consume these artefacts. These systems are influenced by social, economic and institutional factors. This chapter provides examples of RAM framework applications for the understanding of the behaviour of these systems and demonstrates how using hybrid simulation modelling can further provide means for experimentation and decision-making support.