dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaWhy more contact may increase cultural polarization
| Authors | Andreas Flache, Michael W. Macy |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0604196 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0604196 |
Abstract
Following Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination, formal computational studies of cultural influence have suggested that more contact between geographically distant regions may increase overall cultural homogeneity and reduce societal polarization. In the present paper, we show that two plausible modifications of Axelrod's original mechanism turn the effect of range of communication upside-down. We assume a continuous rather than a nominal state space and we add the negative side of social influence, heterophobia and rejection. Computational analyses of the resulting model demonstrate that now a larger range of contact can increase rather than decrease the extent of polarization in the population. Further experiments identify the window of conditions under which the effect obtains.
{
"annotation_id": "9d1bf9c9-4bd7-4a62-af56-ad195ec88162",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:01:06.760000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:01:06.760000Z",
"file_hash": "04e70414bc254b66105d776efbed23b7198e1f5efa1c4ade8038e7ca02beb540",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "Following Axelrod\u0027s model of cultural dissemination, formal computational\nstudies of cultural influence have suggested that more contact between\ngeographically distant regions may increase overall cultural homogeneity and\nreduce societal polarization. In the present paper, we show that two plausible\nmodifications of Axelrod\u0027s original mechanism turn the effect of range of\ncommunication upside-down. We assume a continuous rather than a nominal state\nspace and we add the negative side of social influence, heterophobia and\nrejection. Computational analyses of the resulting model demonstrate that now a\nlarger range of contact can increase rather than decrease the extent of\npolarization in the population. Further experiments identify the window of\nconditions under which the effect obtains.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0604196",
"authors": [
"Andreas Flache",
"Michael W. Macy"
],
"categories": [
"physics.soc-ph",
"nlin.AO"
],
"title": "Why more contact may increase cultural polarization",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0604196"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "4a99dea2-c093-4556-a00e-b087e0503b9e",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}