Emergence of social cohesion in a model society of greedy, mobile individuals

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 108; no. 28; pp. 11370 - 11374
• Main Authors: Roca, Carlos P, Helbing, Dirk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 12.07.2011; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Attitudes; behavior change; Behavior modeling; coevolution; Cooperation; Cooperative Behavior; economic systems; Emigration and Immigration; Evolution; Game Theory; Habituation; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; learning; Modeling; Models, Psychological; Neighborhoods; Outcomes of education; Population Density; Psychology; Public goods; public services and goods; Social Behavior; social cohesion; Social evolution; Social Sciences; Socialization; society

Human wellbeing in modern societies relies on social cohesion, which can be characterized by high levels of cooperation and a large number of social ties. Both features, however, are frequently challenged by individual self-interest. In fact, the stability of social and economic systems can suddenly...