IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chsofr/v199y2025ip1s0960077925006733.html

Emergence of social hierarchies in a society with two competitive groups

Author

Listed:
  • Sadurní, Marc
  • Perelló, Josep
  • Montero, Miquel

Abstract

Agent-based models describing social interactions among individuals can help to better understand emerging macroscopic patterns in societies. One of the topics which is worth tackling is the formation of different kinds of hierarchies that emerge in social spaces such as cities. Here we propose a Bonabeau-like model by adding a second group of agents. The fundamental particularity of our model is that only a pairwise interaction between agents of the opposite group is allowed. Agent fitness can thus only change by competition among the two groups, while the total fitness in the society remains constant. The main result is that for a broad range of values of the model parameters, the fitness of the agents of each group show a decay in time except for one or very few agents which capture almost all the fitness in the society. Numerical simulations also reveal a singular shift from egalitarian to hierarchical society for each group. This behaviour depends on the control parameter η, playing the role of the inverse of the temperature of the system. Results are invariant with regard to the system size, contingent solely on the quantity of agents within each group. Finally, scaling laws are provided thus showing a data collapse from different model parameters and they follow a shape which can be related to the presence of a phase transition in the model.

Suggested Citation

  • Sadurní, Marc & Perelló, Josep & Montero, Miquel, 2025. "Emergence of social hierarchies in a society with two competitive groups," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 199(P1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chsofr:v:199:y:2025:i:p1:s0960077925006733
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2025.116660
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960077925006733
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chaos.2025.116660?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. E. Ben-Naim & F. Vazquez & S. Redner, 2006. "On the structure of competitive societies," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 49(4), pages 531-538, February.
    2. Joseph Hickey & Jörn Davidsen, 2019. "Self-organization and time-stability of social hierarchies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(1), pages 1-30, January.
    3. Tsujiguchi, Masaru & Odagaki, Takashi, 2007. "Self-organizing social hierarchy and villages in a challenging society," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 375(1), pages 317-322.
    4. Mitja Steinbacher & Matthias Raddant & Fariba Karimi & Eva Camacho Cuena & Simone Alfarano & Giulia Iori & Thomas Lux, 2021. "Advances in the agent-based modeling of economic and social behavior," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(7), pages 1-24, July.
    5. Boyeong Hong & Bartosz J. Bonczak & Arpit Gupta & Constantine E. Kontokosta, 2021. "Measuring inequality in community resilience to natural disasters using large-scale mobility data," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Odagaki, Takashi & Tsujiguchi, Masaru, 2006. "Self-organizing social hierarchies in a timid society," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 367(C), pages 435-440.
    7. Marcos Oliveira & Carmelo Bastos-Filho & Ronaldo Menezes, 2017. "The scaling of crime concentration in cities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, August.
    8. Finneran, Lisa & Kelly, Morgan, 2003. "Social networks and inequality," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 282-299, March.
    9. K. Malarz & D. Stauffer & K. Kułakowski, 2006. "Bonabeau model on a fully connected graph," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 50(1), pages 195-198, March.
    10. Lacasa, Lucas & Luque, Bartolo, 2006. "Bonabeau hierarchy models revisited," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 366(C), pages 472-484.
    11. Esteban Moro & Dan Calacci & Xiaowen Dong & Alex Pentland, 2021. "Mobility patterns are associated with experienced income segregation in large US cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Jose Lobo & Luis MA Bettencourt & Michael E Smith & Scott Ortman, 2020. "Settlement scaling theory: Bridging the study of ancient and contemporary urban systems," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(4), pages 731-747, March.
    13. Dietrich Stauffer, 2003. "Phase Transition In Hierarchy Model Of Bonabeau," International Journal of Modern Physics C (IJMPC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(02), pages 237-239.
    14. S. Ispolatov & P.L. Krapivsky & S. Redner, 1998. "Wealth distributions in asset exchange models," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 2(2), pages 267-276, March.
    15. Bonabeau, Eric & Theraulaz, Guy & Deneubourg, Jean-Louis, 1995. "Phase diagram of a model of self-organizing hierarchies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 217(3), pages 373-392.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Karataieva, Tatiana & Koshmanenko, Volodymyr & Krawczyk, Małgorzata J. & Kułakowski, Krzysztof, 2019. "Mean field model of a game for power," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 525(C), pages 535-547.
    2. Czaplicka, Agnieszka & Hołyst, Janusz A., 2026. "From equality to diversity: A bottom-up approach for hierarchy growth," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 681(C).
    3. Jędrzejewski, Arkadiusz & Sznajd-Weron, Katarzyna, 2018. "Impact of memory on opinion dynamics," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 505(C), pages 306-315.
    4. Ohnishi, Teruaki, 2012. "Evolution of groups with a hierarchical structure," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(23), pages 5978-5986.
    5. Alessio Emanuele Biondo & Flavia Coda Moscarola & Roberto Zanola, 2025. "Better Late than Never: Promoting Cultural Consumption Among the Elderly," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 11(1), pages 313-340, March.
    6. Sokolov, Andrey & Melatos, Andrew & Kieu, Tien, 2010. "Laplace transform analysis of a multiplicative asset transfer model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(14), pages 2782-2792.
    7. Sean Fox & Felix Agyemang & Laurence Hawker & Jeffrey Neal, 2024. "Integrating social vulnerability into high-resolution global flood risk mapping," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. E. Samanidou & E. Zschischang & D. Stauffer & T. Lux, 2001. "Microscopic Models of Financial Markets," Papers cond-mat/0110354, arXiv.org.
    9. Ma, Jian & Song, Wei-guo & Zhang, Jun & Lo, Siu-ming & Liao, Guang-xuan, 2010. "k-Nearest-Neighbor interaction induced self-organized pedestrian counter flow," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 389(10), pages 2101-2117.
    10. Jaspe U Martínez-González & Alejandro P. Riascos & José L Mateos, 2024. "Pattern detection in the vehicular activity of bus rapid transit systems," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(10), pages 1-18, October.
    11. repec:plo:pone00:0243621 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Patrizia Sulis & Paola Proietti, 2024. "Who can access what? Uncovering urban inequality in access to service for senior citizens," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 51(7), pages 1650-1665, September.
    13. Daan Francois Toerien, 2022. "Linking Entrepreneurial Activities and Community Prosperity/Poverty in United States Counties: Use of the Enterprise Dependency Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-16, February.
    14. Aaron D. Wood & Charles F. Mason & David Finnoff, 2025. "The development of OPEC: an evolutionary game theory and agent-based modeling approach," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 5(7), pages 1-18, July.
    15. Fenella Fleischmann & Jaap Dronkers, 2010. "Unemployment among immigrants in European labour markets: an analysis of origin and destination effects," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 24(2), pages 337-354, June.
    16. Lorenzo Pareschi & Giuseppe Toscani, 2014. "Wealth distribution and collective knowledge. A Boltzmann approach," Papers 1401.4550, arXiv.org.
    17. Bernardo García Bulle Bueno & Abigail L. Horn & Brooke M. Bell & Mohsen Bahrami & Burçin Bozkaya & Alex Pentland & Kayla Haye & Esteban Moro, 2024. "Effect of mobile food environments on fast food visits," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    18. Kułakowski, Krzysztof, 2009. "Opinion polarization in the Receipt–Accept–Sample model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(4), pages 469-476.
    19. Smerlak, Matteo, 2016. "Thermodynamics of inequalities: From precariousness to economic stratification," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 441(C), pages 40-50.
    20. Andrew J. Stier & Sina Sajjadi & Fariba Karimi & Luís M. A. Bettencourt & Marc G. Berman, 2024. "Implicit racial biases are lower in more populous more diverse and less segregated US cities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    21. Anthony FJ van Raan, 2024. "Simulating urban scaling with a term linkages network of a university," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 51(9), pages 2092-2107, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chsofr:v:199:y:2025:i:p1:s0960077925006733. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Thayer, Thomas R. (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/chaos-solitons-and-fractals .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.