Social physics

Marko Jusup; Petter Holme; Kiyoshi Kanazawa; Misako Takayasu; Ivan Romić; Zhen Wang; Sunčana Geček; Tomislav Lipić; Boris Podobnik; Lin Wang; Wei Luo; Tin Klanjšček; Jingfang Fan; Stefano Boccaletti; Matjaž Perc

doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2021.10.005

Social physics

Marko Jusup, Petter Holme, Kiyoshi Kanazawa, Misako Takayasu, Ivan Romić, Zhen Wang, Sunčana Geček, Tomislav Lipić, Boris Podobnik, Lin Wang, Wei Luo, Tin Klanjšček, Jingfang Fan, Stefano Boccaletti, Matjaž Perc

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

390 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recent decades have seen a rise in the use of physics methods to study different societal phenomena. This development has been due to physicists venturing outside of their traditional domains of interest, but also due to scientists from other disciplines taking from physics the methods that have proven so successful throughout the 19th and the 20th century. Here we characterise the field with the term ‘social physics’ and pay our respect to intellectual mavericks who nurtured it to maturity. We do so by reviewing the current state of the art. Starting with a set of topics that are at the heart of modern human societies, we review research dedicated to urban development and traffic, the functioning of financial markets, cooperation as the basis for our evolutionary success, the structure of social networks, and the integration of intelligent machines into these networks. We then shift our attention to a set of topics that explore potential threats to society. These include criminal behaviour, large-scale migration, epidemics, environmental challenges, and climate change. We end the coverage of each topic with promising directions for future research. Based on this, we conclude that the future for social physics is bright. Physicists studying societal phenomena are no longer a curiosity, but rather a force to be reckoned with. Notwithstanding, it remains of the utmost importance that we continue to foster constructive dialogue and mutual respect at the interfaces of different scientific disciplines.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-148
Number of pages	148
Journal	Physics Reports
Volume	948
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2021.10.005
State	Published - 16 Feb 2022
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Funding

We are thankful to Sheikh Taslim Ali, Yosef Ashkenazy, Simon Cauchemez, Xiaosong Chen, Benjamin J. Cowling, Zhanwei Du, Shlomo Havlin, Juergen Kurths, Josef Ludescher, Jun Meng, Lauren A. Meyers, Henrik Salje, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Maximilian Schich, Joseph T. Wu, and Xiaoke Xu. M.J. was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI grants-in-aid for scientific research JP20H04288, JP21K04545, and JP21H03625. P.H. was supported by JSPS KAKENHI JP21H04595. K.K. was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), PRESTO grant JPMJPR20M2. Z.W. was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, China (grant no. 62025602), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants nos. U1803263, 11931015, 81961138010), the Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation of China (grant no. 171105), and the Key Technology Research-and-Development Program of the Science and Technology-Scientific and Technological Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province, China (grant no. 2020TD-013). S.G. and T.K. were supported by the Croatian Science Foundation project 2018-01-3150 AqADAPT. B.P. was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (grant no. J7-3156). L.W. was supported by the European Research Council (grant no. 804744), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Grant RG90413, Health and Medical Research Fund, Food and Health Bureau, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (grant no. 20190712), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 62173065 and 11975025), and the International COVID-19 Data Alliance (ICODA), an initiative funded by the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator and convened by Health Data Research UK. W.L. was supported by The National University of Singapore Start-up and Ministry of Education Tier 1 grants (grant no. WBS R-109-000-270-133). J.F. was supported by the East Africa Peru India Climate Capacities—EPICC project, which is a part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) sponsored by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is leading the execution of the project together with project partners The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the German Meteorological Service, Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD). M.P. was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (grant nos. P1-0403, J1-2457, and J1-9112). We are thankful to Sheikh Taslim Ali, Yosef Ashkenazy, Simon Cauchemez, Xiaosong Chen, Benjamin J. Cowling, Zhanwei Du, Shlomo Havlin, Juergen Kurths, Josef Ludescher, Jun Meng, Lauren A. Meyers, Henrik Salje, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Maximilian Schich, Joseph T. Wu, and Xiaoke Xu. M. J. was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI grants-in-aid for scientific research JP20H04288 , JP21K04545 , and JP21H03625 . P.H. was supported by JSPS KAKENHI JP21H04595 . K. K. was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) , PRESTO grant JPMJPR20M2 . Z. W. was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, China (grant no. 62025602 ), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants nos. U1803263 , 11931015 , 81961138010 ), the Fok Ying-Tong Education Foundation of China (grant no. 171105 ), and the Key Technology Research-and-Development Program of the Science and Technology-Scientific and Technological Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province, China (grant no. 2020TD-013 ). S. G. and T. K. were supported by the Croatian Science Foundation project 2018-01-3150 AqADAPT. B. P. was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (grant no. J7-3156 ). L. W. was supported by the European Research Council (grant no. 804744 ), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Grant RG90413 , Health and Medical Research Fund , Food and Health Bureau, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (grant no. 20190712 ), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 62173065 and 11975025 ), and the International COVID-19 Data Alliance (ICODA), an initiative funded by the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator and convened by Health Data Research UK. W. L. was supported by The National University of Singapore Start-up and Ministry of Education Tier 1 grants (grant no. WBS R-109-000-270-133 ). J. F. was supported by the East Africa Peru India Climate Capacities—EPICC project, which is a part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) sponsored by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is leading the execution of the project together with project partners The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the German Meteorological Service, Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD). M. P. was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (grant nos. P1-0403 , J1-2457 , and J1-9112 ).

Funders	Funder number
Deutscher Wetterdienst
East Africa Peru India Climate Capacities
Energy and Resources Institute
Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation
German Meteorological Service
Health Data Research UK
Health and Medical Research Fund , Food and Health Bureau	11975025, 20190712, 62173065
Health and Medical Research Fund, Food and Health Bureau
Nuclear Safety
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Science and Technology-Scientific and Technological Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province	2020TD-013
TERI
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council	RG90413
European Commission	804744
National University of Singapore
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science	JP21H03625, JP20H04288, JP21H04595, JP21K04545
National Natural Science Foundation of China	U1803263, 11931015, 81961138010
Japan Science and Technology Agency
Ministry of Education	WBS R-109-000-270-133
Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS	J7-3156
Hrvatska Zaklada za Znanost	2018-01-3150 AqADAPT
Fok Ying Tong Education Foundation	171105
Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit	J1-9112, P1-0403, J1-2457
Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology	JPMJPR20M2
National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars	62025602

Keywords

Human behaviour
Multidisciplinarity
Statistical physics
Sustainability
Thermodynamics

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.physrep.2021.10.005

Cite this

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title = "Social physics",

abstract = "Recent decades have seen a rise in the use of physics methods to study different societal phenomena. This development has been due to physicists venturing outside of their traditional domains of interest, but also due to scientists from other disciplines taking from physics the methods that have proven so successful throughout the 19th and the 20th century. Here we characterise the field with the term {\textquoteleft}social physics{\textquoteright} and pay our respect to intellectual mavericks who nurtured it to maturity. We do so by reviewing the current state of the art. Starting with a set of topics that are at the heart of modern human societies, we review research dedicated to urban development and traffic, the functioning of financial markets, cooperation as the basis for our evolutionary success, the structure of social networks, and the integration of intelligent machines into these networks. We then shift our attention to a set of topics that explore potential threats to society. These include criminal behaviour, large-scale migration, epidemics, environmental challenges, and climate change. We end the coverage of each topic with promising directions for future research. Based on this, we conclude that the future for social physics is bright. Physicists studying societal phenomena are no longer a curiosity, but rather a force to be reckoned with. Notwithstanding, it remains of the utmost importance that we continue to foster constructive dialogue and mutual respect at the interfaces of different scientific disciplines.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.physrep.2021.10.005",

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AU - Geček, Sunčana

AU - Lipić, Tomislav

AU - Podobnik, Boris

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Social physics

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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