# The politics of physicists social models

## TL;DR

This paper reviews the application of statistical physics models to social sciences, questioning their practical relevance and linking social modeling to political efforts of human taming.

## Contribution

It critically examines the conceptual usefulness and real-world applicability of physicists' social models and explores their political implications.

## Key findings

- Physicists' social models are conceptually interesting but often lack real-world relevance.
- Social modeling may serve as a form of political human taming.
- The relevance of simplified models to complex social systems is questionable.

## Abstract

I give an overview of the topic of this special issue, the applications of (statistical) physics to social sciences at large. I discuss several examples of simple social models put forward by physicists and discuss their interest. I argue that while they may be conceptually useful to correct our intuitive models of social mechanisms, their relevance for real social systems is moot. What is more, since physicists have always needed to tame the world inside laboratories to make their models relevant, I suggest that social modeling might be linked to human taming, a smashing political project.