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Competition and the dynamics of group affiliation

Competition and the dynamics of group affiliation
Competition and the dynamics of group affiliation
How can we understand the interaction between the social network topology of a population and the patterns of group affiliation in that population? Each aspect influences the other: social networks provide the conduits via which groups recruit new members, and groups provide the context in which new social ties are formed. From an organisational ecology perspective, groups can be considered to compete with one another for the time and energy of their members. Such competition is likely to have an impact on the way in which social structure and group affiliation co-evolve. While many social simulation models exhibit group formation as a part of their behaviour (e.g., opinion clusters or converged cultures), models that explicitly focus on group affiliation are rare. We describe and explore the behaviour of a model in which, distinct from most current models, individual nodes can belong to multiple groups simultaneously. By varying the capacity of individuals to belong to groups, and the costs associated with group membership, we explore the effect of different levels of competition on population structure and group dynamics.
social networks, group affiliation, simulation
0219-5259
501-517
Geard, Nicholas
e9933f78-10b8-4454-8c8d-c2c75e040346
Bullock, Seth
2ad576e4-56b8-4f31-84e0-51bd0b7a1cd3
Geard, Nicholas
e9933f78-10b8-4454-8c8d-c2c75e040346
Bullock, Seth
2ad576e4-56b8-4f31-84e0-51bd0b7a1cd3

Geard, Nicholas and Bullock, Seth (2010) Competition and the dynamics of group affiliation. Advances in Complex Systems, 13 (4), 501-517. (doi:10.1142/S0219525910002712).

Record type: Article

Abstract

How can we understand the interaction between the social network topology of a population and the patterns of group affiliation in that population? Each aspect influences the other: social networks provide the conduits via which groups recruit new members, and groups provide the context in which new social ties are formed. From an organisational ecology perspective, groups can be considered to compete with one another for the time and energy of their members. Such competition is likely to have an impact on the way in which social structure and group affiliation co-evolve. While many social simulation models exhibit group formation as a part of their behaviour (e.g., opinion clusters or converged cultures), models that explicitly focus on group affiliation are rare. We describe and explore the behaviour of a model in which, distinct from most current models, individual nodes can belong to multiple groups simultaneously. By varying the capacity of individuals to belong to groups, and the costs associated with group membership, we explore the effect of different levels of competition on population structure and group dynamics.

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More information

Published date: August 2010
Keywords: social networks, group affiliation, simulation
Organisations: Agents, Interactions & Complexity

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 271195
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/271195
ISSN: 0219-5259
PURE UUID: 2b0c3c67-18a4-4859-9965-1d628a8a0772

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Date deposited: 27 May 2010 17:37
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 09:24

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Contributors

Author: Nicholas Geard
Author: Seth Bullock

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