Sim City 4 is more of an economics game. You are not well connected with your citizens in Sim City 4 you are far from the street and do not really know how your citizens lives are. Sim City 4 citizens do not have any impact on your city. In real life the citizens shape the city so much more than the economic developers or individual mayor, whether the citizens feel depressed and materialistic or happy and religious. What I think is good about SimCity Societies is the more political, psychological and sociological gameplay so you are as the title says running a full society rather then just the simulated city building or the 100% economic side that simcity 4 takes. Sim City 4 is unrealistic in that its development does not factor sociological concepts well, for example: Labour disputes, Mass political protests, looting, rampant crime, vandalism etc. All these sociological factors have such an impact on your society and city. I don't know if they'll be in the game but I think they should be.
I don't like any social science , however I think the game is worth a shot.