Social inequality: from data to statistical physics modeling

Abstract

Social inequality is a topic of interest since ages, and has attracted researchers across disciplines to ponder over it origin, manifestation, characteristics, consequences, and finally, the question of how to cope with it. It is manifested across different strata of human existence, and is quantified in several ways. In this review we discuss the origins of social inequality, the historical and commonly used non-entropic measures such as Lorenz curve, Gini index and the recently introduced $k$ index. We also discuss some analytical tools that aid in understanding and characterizing them. Finally, we argue how statistical physics modeling helps in reproducing the results and interpreting them.

Mini review. 8 pages, 2 figures; To appear in Conf. Proc. Statphys-Kolkata VIII, Dec 1-5, 2014, Kolkata, India; Contribution dedicated to the memory of Prof. Jun-ichi Inoue

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• Statistical physics of social dynamics
• Kinetic Exchange Models for Income and Wealth Distributions
• Inequality in Societies, Academic Institutions and Science Journals: Gini and k-indices
• Global inequality in energy consumption from 1980 to 2010
• Measuring social inequality with quantitative methodology: analytical estimates and empirical data analysis by Gini and $k$ indices
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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Inequality measures in kinetic exchange models of wealth distributions
• Invariant features of spatial inequality in consumption: the case of India
• Success of Social Inequality Measures in Predicting Critical or Failure Points in Some Models of Physical Systems
• Inequality in Death from Social Conflicts: A Gini & Kolkata indices-based Study
• Inequality of avalanche sizes in models of fracture
• Power Accretion in Social Systems