SKM 2023 – scientific programme
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SOE: Fachverband Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme
SOE 18: Social Systems, Opinion and Group Dynamics I
SOE 18.1: Talk
Thursday, March 30, 2023, 15:30–15:45, ZEU 260
Homophily-based social group formation in a spin-glass self-assembly framework — •Jan Korbel1,2, Simon Lindner1,2, Tuan Pham1,2,3, Rudolf Hanel1,2, and Stefan Thurner1,2,4 — 1Section for the Science of Complex Systems, CeMSIIS, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, A-1090, Vienna, Austria — 2Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Josefstädterstrasse 39, A-1080, Vienna, Austria — 3Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark — 44Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, USA
Homophily, the tendency of humans to attract each other when sharing similar features, traits, or opinions, has been identified as one of the main driving forces behind the formation of structured societies. Here we ask to what extent homophily can explain the formation of social groups, particularly their size distribution. We propose a spin glass-inspired framework of self-assembly, where opinions are represented as multidimensional spins that dynamically self-assemble into groups; individuals within a group tend to share similar opinions (intra-group homophily), and opinions between individuals belonging to different groups tend to be different (inter-group heterophily). We compute the associated non-trivial phase diagram by solving a self-consistency equation for magnetization (combined average opinion). Below a critical temperature are two stable phases: one ordered with non-zero magnetization and large clusters, the other disordered with zero magnetization and no clusters. The system exhibits a first-order transition to the disordered phase.