How does diversity of individuals affect the structure of society?: A constructive approach using adaptive networks

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H04220
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 62020:Web informatics and service informatics-related
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Sayama Hiroki 早稲田大学, 商学学術院, 教授(任期付) (30345425)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山野井 順一 早稲田大学, 商学学術院, 准教授 (20386543)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 多様性 / 社会構造 / 適応的ネットワーク / 数理モデル / 複雑系 / 社会ネットワーク / シミュレーション / データ解析

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examined how the diversity of individuals constituting a society affects the social structure and its changes. Specifically, using the framework of "adaptive networks," we constructed several simulation models in which diversity was introduced into the characteristics of each individual, and investigated their properties through systematic computational experiments. In addition, we quantified the actual behavior of individuals and their diversity in society by analyzing real-world network time series data and social experiment data, and compared them with the findings obtained from the computational models. As a result, it was suggested that the diversity of individual behaviors could help achieve a "diverse yet connected" society, which was not predicted by existing theoretical models.

Free Research Field

複雑系科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

スマートフォンやSNS等，個人レベルでの情報収集・拡散技術の発展により，社会構造の変化は加速し，同時に意見相違や地位格差の拡大のような不安定性も生じ始めた．こうした急速な情報化・ネットワーク化の進行は，マクロレベルで個々人の意図を超えた予想外の社会ダイナミクスを産み出しており，社会ネットワークの動的変化の理解・予測・管理は学術的・応用的に極めて重要な課題となっている．以上の背景のもと，本研究は，個の多様性が社会の動的変化に及ぼす影響を明らかにし，また多様な個の状態を維持しつつ社会の接続性も確保するにはどうすべきかという重要な問題について示唆を与えるもので，その学術的・社会的意義は大きい．