Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 56: Complex Contagion Phenomena I (Focus Session, joint SOE/DY/BP/SNPD) (joint session SOE/DY/BP)

DY 56.4: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 15, 2018, 11:15–11:45, MA 001

Linear and nonlinear scenarios of societal change — •Andrzej Nowak — University of Warsaw, Poland

We argue that is that rapid social changes occur rapidly in an abrupt and nonlinear manner resembling a phase transition. Societies in the midst of rapid change are characterized by dual realities corresponding to the new and the old, and the change occurs as the islands of the new expand at the expense of the islands of the new. The central notion is that social influence processes play a pivotal role in promoting social change. Dynamic Theory of Social Impact, which is based on numerous experiments, describes social influence of a group of sources on the target. The findings are based on computer simulations of the theory and confirmed by empirical data collected during the societal transitions that occurred in Poland in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We discuss the dynamics associated with rapid transitions in a society*s norms and attitudes, potential for rapid reversals and role of history is social dynamics.