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Agent-Based Approaches in Economic and Social Complex Systems VIII pp 27–37Cite as

Globalization May Cause Cultural Accumulation in the Whole Population

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Part of the book series: Agent-Based Social Systems ((ABSS,volume 13))

Abstract

We constructed an agent-based model (ABM) that tested how globalization, frequent movements of individuals between local societies, affects the accumulation of cultures. In the model, multiple groups were connected as a circular stepping-stone formation without boundaries. Agents copy cultural traits of others in their groups; agents may gain or lose their cultural traits through the process, depending on the traits of opponents, which is called within-boundary communication. Agents periodically migrate between adjacent groups. Agents also visit adjacent groups, copy the cultural traits in those groups, and return to their group, which is called cross-boundary communication. The model indicates that cultural traits may accumulate in the whole population even if they migrate frequently. The necessary conditions are that agents also frequently communicate cross-boundary by finding an appropriate group.

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Acknowledgments

I thank comments of the reviewers on this paper. This research was financially supported by the MEXT KAKENHI. No. 21710051, 23101505 and 25101707.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. COC Promotion Office, Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan

    Shiro Horiuchi

Authors
  1. Shiro Horiuchi
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Correspondence to Shiro Horiuchi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Systems Engineering and Sciences, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Saitama, Japan

    Yutaka Nakai

  2. Shibaura Institute of Technology, Saitama, Japan

    Yuhsuke Koyama

  3. Department of Computational Intelligence and Systems Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Japan

    Takao Terano

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Horiuchi, S. (2015). Globalization May Cause Cultural Accumulation in the Whole Population. In: Nakai, Y., Koyama, Y., Terano, T. (eds) Agent-Based Approaches in Economic and Social Complex Systems VIII. Agent-Based Social Systems, vol 13. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55236-9_3

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