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Networks and Heterogeneous Media

2015, Volume 10, Issue 1: 167-194. doi: 10.3934/nhm.2015.10.167
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Complexity, selectivity and asymmetry in the conformation of the power phenomenon. Analysis of Chilean society

  • 1.
    Inria-Chile, Apoquindo 2827, Piso 12. Las Condes, Santiago
  • 2.
    Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Centro de Estudios y Asistencia Legislativa-CEAL, Avenida Brasil, 2950, Valparaíso
  • 3.
    Instituto de Sistemas Complejos de Valparaíso, Subida Artillería 470, Valparaíso

  • Primary: 05C82, 91D30; Secondary: 90B15.

  • In this work we analyzed the relationships between powerful politicians and businessmen of Chile in order to study the phenomenon of social power. We developed our study according to Complex Network Theory but also using traditional sociological theories of Power and Elites. Our analyses suggest that the studied network displays common properties of Complex Networks, such as scaling in connectivity distribution, properties of small-world networks, and modular structure, among others. We also observed that social power (a proposed metric is presented in this work) is also distributed inhomogeneously. However, the most interesting observation is that this inhomogeneous power and connectivity distribution, among other observed properties, may be the result of a dynamic and unregulated process of network growth in which powerful people tend to link to similar others. The compatibility between people, increasingly selective as the network grows, could generate the presence of extremely powerful people, but also a constant inequality of power where the difference between the most powerful is the same as among the least powerful. Our results are also in accordance with sociological theories.

    Citation: Juan Pablo Cárdenas, Gerardo Vidal, Gastón Olivares. Complexity, selectivity and asymmetry in the conformation of the power phenomenon. Analysis of Chilean society[J]. Networks and Heterogeneous Media, 2015, 10(1): 167-194. doi: 10.3934/nhm.2015.10.167

    Related Papers:

  • In this work we analyzed the relationships between powerful politicians and businessmen of Chile in order to study the phenomenon of social power. We developed our study according to Complex Network Theory but also using traditional sociological theories of Power and Elites. Our analyses suggest that the studied network displays common properties of Complex Networks, such as scaling in connectivity distribution, properties of small-world networks, and modular structure, among others. We also observed that social power (a proposed metric is presented in this work) is also distributed inhomogeneously. However, the most interesting observation is that this inhomogeneous power and connectivity distribution, among other observed properties, may be the result of a dynamic and unregulated process of network growth in which powerful people tend to link to similar others. The compatibility between people, increasingly selective as the network grows, could generate the presence of extremely powerful people, but also a constant inequality of power where the difference between the most powerful is the same as among the least powerful. Our results are also in accordance with sociological theories.


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