Polarization inhibits the phase transition of Axelrod's model

We study the effect of polarization in Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination. This is done through the introduction of a cultural feature that takes only two values, while the other features can present a larger number of possible traits. Our numerical results and mean-field approximations show that polarization reduces the characteristic phase transition of the original model to a finite-size effect, since at the thermodynamic limit only the ordered phase is present. Furthermore, for finite system sizes, the stationary state depends on the percolation threshold of the network where the model is implemented: a polarized phase is obtained for percolation thresholds below 1/2, and a fragmented multicultural one otherwise.

Automated summary

We study the effect of polarization in Axelrod's model of cultural dissemination by introducing a cultural feature that takes only two values. Our results show that polarization reduces the model's characteristic phase transition to a finite-size effect, with only the ordered phase present at the thermodynamic limit. Additionally, the stationary state of finite system sizes depends on the percolation threshold of the network, resulting in a polarized phase for thresholds below 1/2 and a fragmented multicultural phase otherwise.