2024/12/28 by Oliveira, Marcos, Neuhauser, Leonie, Karimi, Fariba · 1 citation
#Applications (stat.AP) #Computers and Society (cs.CY) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Multiagent Systems (cs.MA) #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #Social and Information Networks (cs.SI)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2412.20158
While homophily -- the tendency to link with similar others -- may nurture a sense of belonging and shared values, it can also hinder diversity and widen inequalities. Here, we unravel this trade-off analytically, revealing homophily traps for minority groups: scenarios where increased homophilic interaction among minorities negatively affects their structural opportunities within a network. We demonstrate that homophily traps arise when minority size falls below 25% of a network, at which point homophily comes at the expense of lower structural visibility for the minority group. Our work reveals that social groups require a critical size to benefit from homophily without incurring structural costs, providing insights into core processes underlying the emergence of group inequality in networks.