Roehner B.M. Driving Forces in Physical, Biological and Socio-economic Phenomena: A Network Science Investigation of Social Bonds and Interactions

Cambridge University Press, 2007. — 254 p. — ISBN: 0521859107.In recent years network science has become a dynamic and promising discipline; here it is extended to explore social and historical phenomena. While we experience social interactions every day, there is little quantitative knowledge on them. Instead we are often tempted to resort to fanciful explanations to explain social trends. Exogenous and endogenous interactions are often the key to understanding social phenomena and unravelling historical mysteries. This book begins by explaining how it is possible to bridge the gap between physics and sociology by exploring how network theory can apply to both. It then examines the macro- and micro-interactions in societies. The chapters are largely self-contained, allowing readers easily to access and understand the sections of most interest. This multi-disciplinary book will be fascinating to all physicists who have an interest in the human sciences and it will provide an alternative perspective to graduate students and researchers in sociology and econophysics.Bridging the gap between physics and the social sciences
Probing bonds
The battle against noise in physics
The battle against noise in the social sciences
Equilibrium and metastable states
Are the data reliable?Macro-interactions
Shaping the Zeitgeist
Bonds of vassalage
The absentee ownership syndromeMicro-interactions: a network explanation of suicide
Effects of a male–female imbalance
Effect of weakened marital bonds on suicide
Effect of social isolation on suicide
Apoptosis