Cliodynamics is a transdisciplinary area of research that integrates cultural evolution, economic history/cliometrics, macrosociology, the mathematical modeling of historical processes during the longue durée, and the construction and analysis of historical databases.[
Cliodynamics treats history as science. Its practitioners develop theories that explain such dynamical processes as the rise and fall of empires, population booms and busts, and the spread and disappearance of religions. These theories are translated into mathematical models. Finally, model predictions are tested against data. Thus, building and analyzing massive databases of historical and archaeological information is one of the most important goals of cliodynamics.
Now, one of the hallmarks of cliodynamics is the overproduction of elites. This overproduction leads to disappointment and disaffection, which tends to provide a source of elite leadership to the masses which are similarly disaffected due to extreme wealth inequalities and declining economic prospects.
In SSH terms, three questions that arise in this context are as follows:
Where are all the Alpha leaders of the past?
Why are there so many obvious Gammas in positions of wealth, influence, and power?
Are these two observations related to the historical process of societal collapse?
Now, cliodynamics focuses primarily on economics rather than cultural and social elements, but here is an area in which the SSH may be usefully applied to a scientific field, even if it is by doing nothing more than providing another red flag or indicator of social decline.
Certainly if one looks at the later Roman Empire, or indeed, any failing monarchy or democracy, one of the more obvious elements is the decline in SSH status on the part of the late-stage leaders in comparison with those who helped establish the polity. Indeed, the difference between the Senate leaders of Republican Rome and the various Caesars and Imperators of the failing Empire is hard to miss.