A research group in Statistical Physics at International School of Advanced Studies, SISSA, has carried out a social network simulation: each individual is represented by a node, while links, connecting the nodes, represent social interactions.
Each individual has an inclination to enhance their social importance and they do so by trying to connect to ‘people who count’, and they represent the central node in this network simulation.
In order to climb socially, an individual needs to disconnect with the past; that is, leave old nodes and connect with the most central ones. But how many have the tendency to break up with their old connections in order to gain new important connections? How many opportunist individuals are there within a society?
The studies reveal that all individuals are ‘social climbers’; the egalitarian or hierarchical phase of the society does not depend, therefore, on the number of social climbers, but rather on the importance that individuals of that society ascribe to social prestige. According to the simulation, a society that features a strong dominant class indicates that the lower nodes have a greater “yearning” for social prestige. “It works a little like Facebook”, according to Giancarlo de Luca, a co-author of the study: “the more contacts I have, the more popular I am.”
The research also suggests that those who end up in the central nodes tend to stay in the position of predominance for a long time. Conversely, individuals who are attempting to climb the social ladder (in an intermediate position) move much more rapidly, both in a positive and negative sense.
