Group interactions modulate critical mass dynamics in social convention

TL;DR

This paper investigates how group interactions influence the critical mass needed to overturn social norms, revealing that group size and individual propensity to change significantly affect social convention dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces group interactions into social convention models, explaining the variability in critical mass sizes and emphasizing the importance of higher-order networks.

Findings

Small critical mass can trigger change with low individual propensity.

Group size affects the ability of minorities to overturn norms.

Findings reconcile different critical mass sizes from previous studies.

Abstract

How can minorities of individuals overturn social conventions? The theory of critical mass states that when a committed minority reaches a critical size, a cascade of behavioural changes can occur, overturning apparently stable social norms. Evidence comes from theoretical and empirical studies in which minorities of very different sizes, including extremely small ones, manage to bring a system to its tipping point. Here, we explore this diversity of scenarios by introducing group interactions as a crucial element of realism into a model for social convention. We find that the critical mass necessary to trigger behaviour change can be very small if individuals have a limited propensity to change their views. Moreover, the ability of the committed minority to overturn existing norms depends in a complex way on the group size. Our findings reconcile the different sizes of critical mass found in previous investigations and unveil the critical role of groups in such a process. This further highlights the importance of the emerging field of higher-order networks, beyond pairwise interactions