Segregation in networks

Abstract

Schelling (Schelling, T., 1969. Models of segregation. American Economic Review 59, 488–493; Schelling, T., 1971a. Dynamic models of segregation. Journal of Mathematical Sociology 1, 143–186; Schelling, T., 1971b. On the ecology of micromotives. The Public Interest 25, 61–98; Schelling, T., 1978. Micromotives and Macrobehavior. W.W. Norton and Company, New York) considered a model with individual agents who only care about the types of people living in their own local neighborhood. The spatial structure was represented by a one- or two-dimensional lattice. Schelling showed that an integrated society will generally unravel into a rather segregated one even though no individual agent strictly prefers this. We generalize this spatial proximity model to a proximity model of segregation, examining models with individual agents who interact 'locally' in a range of more general social network structures. The levels of segregation attained are in line with those reached in the lattice-based spatial proximity model.