Seminar by Gorm Jensen

Social evolution of structural discrimination

Structural discrimination appears to be a persistent phenomenon in social systems. We here outline the hypothesis that it can result from the evolutionary dynamics of the social system itself. We study the evolutionary dynamics of agents with neutral badges in a simple social game and find that the badges are readily discriminated by the system although not being tied to the payoff matrix of the game. The sole property of being distinguishable leads to the subsequent discrimination, therefore providing a model for the emergence and freezing of social prejudice.