Opinion Evolution in Divided Community

Abstract

Our agent-based model of opinion dynamics concerns the current vast divisions in modern societies. It examines the process of social polarization, understood here as the partition of a community into two opposing groups with contradictory opinions. Our goal is to measure how mutual animosities between parties may lead to their radicalization. We apply a double-clique topology with both positive and negative ties to the model of binary opinions. Individuals are subject to social pressure; they conform to the opinions of their own clique (positive links) and oppose those from the other one (negative links). There is also a chance of acting independently, which alters the system’s behavior in various ways, depending on its magnitude. The results, obtained with both Monte-Carlo simulations and the mean-field approach, lead to two main conclusions: in such a system, there exists a critical quantity of negative relations that are needed for polarization to occur, and (rather surprisingly) independent actions actually support the process, unless their frequency is too high, in which case the system falls into total disorder.

Keywords

• opinion dynamics
• social polarization
• agent-based model
• Monte-Carlo simulation