Driving forces in physical, biological and socio-economic phenomena : a network science investigation of social bonds and interactions / Bertrand M. Roehner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roehner, Bertrand M., 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

System theory.

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Social networks.

Suicide--Social aspects.

Suicide.

Physical Description:

xviii, 254 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

In recent years network science has become a dynamic and promising discipline; here it is extended to explore social and historical phenomena. While we experience social interactions every day, there is little quantitative knowledge on them. Instead, we are often tempted to resort to fanciful explanations to account for social trends. For example, it has been argued that the decrease in suicide rates in America in the 1990s should be attributed to greater consumption of anti-depressants. However, further examination revealed that US counties where suicides rates have fallen the most are those with a high proportion of Hispanic immigrants, who are known to have low suicide rates. More generally, exogenous and endogenous interactions are often the key to understanding social phenomena and unravelling historical mysteries.

This book begins by explaining how it is possible to bridge the gap between physics and sociology by exploring how network theory can apply to both. It then examines the macro- and micro-interactions in societies. The chapters are largely self-contained, allowing readers to easily access and understand the sections of most interest to them. This multidisciplinary book will be fascinating to all physicists who have an interest in the human sciences, and it will provide an alternative perspective to graduate students and researchers in sociology and econophysics.

Contents:

Part I Bridging the gap between physics and the social sciences 1

1 Probing bonds 3

1.1 The Rutherford experiment 6

1.2 Boiling points as test-probes 10

1.3 Basic principles of the physics of mixing 12

1.4 Immiscible liquids 13

1.5 Physical properties of a mixture as a tool for exploring bonds 14

1.6 Estimating the correlation length in social phenomena 16

Appendix Gauging the links between two twinned communities 24

2 The battle against noise in physics 26

2.1 Improving the signal to noise ratio in the pendulum experiment 29

2.2 Noise reduction in the detection of gravitational waves 31

2.3 Pattern matching: a simulation 32

3 The battle against noise in the social sciences 35

3.1 The extreme value technique 35

3.2 Pattern matching: knowing when and what to observe 38

3.3 Reducing noise by adding up several realizations 43

3.4 Confidence intervals and statistical significance 50

3.5 Upgrading statistical tests 54

4 Equilibrium and metastable states 62

4.1 Equilibrium restoring forces 63

4.2 Probing the strength of equilibrium restoring forces 66

4.3 Metastable states in physics and chemistry 71

4.4 Metastability, seeds and forms of post-revolution societies 75

5 Are the data reliable? 80

5.1 The replication process for the Foucault pendulum experiment 81

5.2 The replication process for cold nuclear fusion 84

5.3 Biased suicide statistics 85

5.4 Interactions between Japanese population and occupation forces 90

Part II Macro-interactions 101

6 Shaping the Zeitgeist 105

6.1 Marketing campaigns: shaping the response of consumers 106

6.2 Public relations campaigns: example of cell phones in cars 111

6.3 Shaping the Zeitgeist: the promotion of neoliberalism 115

6.4 Tangible effects of neoliberal policies 126

6.5 A network perspective 131

Appendix From Edward Bernays to Isaac Asimov 132

7 Bonds of vassalage 135

7.1 Role of the United States in the First Vietnam War 137

7.2 Ways and means 145

7.3 Identification of interference through the coincidence method 146

8 The absentee ownership syndrome 150

8.1 Land reform in Japan under General MacArthur 150

8.2 How the strength of interpersonal interactions conditions human behavior 151

8.3 Effects of absentee ownership in Ireland 155

8.4 Effect of segmentation on the effectiveness of a social system 156

8.5 Hardship as a side effect of absentee landlordism 158

8.6 The absentee landlord paradigm in history 160

8.7 Assessing interaction in settler colonies 161

8.8 Revolutions seen as a way to end absentee landlordism 165

8.9 Present-day manifestations of the absentee ownership syndrome 165

Part III Micro-interactions: a network explanation of suicide 169

9 Effects of a male-female imbalance 173

9.1 Suicide rates of unmarried versus married people 174

9.2 Suicide rate in a population with a gender imbalance 176

9.3 Designing the experiment 178

9.4 Suicide rates as a function of sex ratio in groups of immigrants 182

9.5 Cross-sectional analysis 185

9.6 Male-female imbalance induced by war 186

Appendix Suicide rate in a population with a sex ratio r [not equal] 1 190

10 Effect of weakened marital bonds on suicide 192

10.1 Suicide rate of young widowers 192

10.2 Effect of falling marriage rates 195

10.3 Effect of a sudden upsurge in marriages 197

10.4 Connection between mean age of marriage and suicide rate 198

10.5 Longitudinal test 199

10.6 Cross-sectional analysis 201

11 Effect of social isolation on suicide 205

11.1 Effect of major historical events on suicide 205

11.2 Effect of social isolation on suicide 209

11.3 Effect of a rearrangement of social ties 214

11.4 Effect on suicide of the social disruption experienced by immigrants 217

11.5 Effect of immigration on suicide rates in the country of destination 220

11.6 Non-linear mixing relationships 225

12 Apoptosis 231

12.1 Apoptosis versus necrosis 232

12.2 Role of apoptosis in the development of multicellular organisms 233

12.3 Apoptosis in plants 234

12.4 Apoptosis in populations 234

12.5 Apoptosis in groups of mammals 237

12.6 Apoptosis in human societies 238.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521859103

0521859107

OCLC:

141379284