Segregation and polarization in urban areas
Name
rsos.190573.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.03 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
fdbd7aeb7239689117dfe96a0a3f34c7
Author(s)
Morales, Alfredo J
Dong, Xiaowen
Bar-Yam, Yaneer
‘Sandy’ Pentland, Alex
Date Issued
2019
Journal
Royal Society Open Science
Publisher
The Royal Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© 2019 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society Social behaviours emerge from the exchange of information among individuals—constrained by and reciprocally influencing the structure of information flows. The Internet radically transformed communication by democratizing broadcast capabilities and enabling easy and borderless formation of new acquaintances. However, actual information flows are heterogeneous and confined to self-organized echo-chambers. Of central importance to the future of society is understanding how existing physical segregation affects online social fragmentation. Here, we show that the virtual space is a reflection of the geographical space where physical interactions and proximity-based social learning are the main transmitters of ideas. We show that online interactions are segregated by income just as physical interactions are, and that physical separation reflects polarized behaviours beyond culture or politics. Our analysis is consistent with theoretical concepts suggesting polarization is associated with social exposure that reinforces within-group homogenization and between-group differentiation, and they together promote social fragmentation in mirrored physical and virtual spaces.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1098/RSOS.190573
