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The Social Climbing Game

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Bardoscia
  • Giancarlo De Luca
  • Giacomo Livan
  • Matteo Marsili
  • Claudio J. Tessone

Abstract

The structure of a society depends, to some extent, on the incentives of the individuals they are composed of. We study a stylized model of this interplay, that suggests that the more individuals aim at climbing the social hierarchy, the more society's hierarchy gets strong. Such a dependence is sharp, in the sense that a persistent hierarchical order emerges abruptly when the preference for social status gets larger than a threshold. This phase transition has its origin in the fact that the presence of a well defined hierarchy allow agents to climb it, thus reinforcing it, whereas in a ``disordered'' society it is harder for agents to find out whom they should connect to in order to become more central. Interestingly, a social order emerges when agents strive harder to climb society and it results in a state of reduced social mobility, as a consequence of ergodicity breaking, where climbing is more difficult.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Bardoscia & Giancarlo De Luca & Giacomo Livan & Matteo Marsili & Claudio J. Tessone, "undated". "The Social Climbing Game," Working Papers ETH-RC-12-014, ETH Zurich, Chair of Systems Design.
    • Handle: RePEc:stz:wpaper:eth-rc-12-014
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    File URL: ftp://web.sg.ethz.ch/RePEc/stz/wpaper/pdf/ETH-RC-12-014.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Xin-Jie & Tang, Yong & Xiong, Jason & Wang, Wei-Jia & Zhang, Yi-Cheng, 2020. "Ranking game on networks: The evolution of hierarchical society," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 540(C).
    2. Fabio Vanni & Paolo Barucca, 2019. "Degree-correlations in a bursting dynamic network model," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 14(3), pages 663-695, September.
    3. Cao, Yong & Zhao, Youjie & Yue, Xiaoguang & Xiong, Fei & Sun, Yongke & He, Xin & Wang, Lichao, 2016. "Between disorder and order: A case study of power law," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 456(C), pages 244-255.

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