Mathematics and Social Science: A Statistical Mechanics Approach to Immigration

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Pierluigi Contucci, Cristian Giardina
ERCIM News 73, pages 34-35
April 2008

Is modern science able to study social matters like those related to immigration phenomena on solid mathematical grounds? Can we for instance determine cultural robustness and the causes behind abrupt changes from cultural legacies? Can we predict, cause or avoid swings? A novel approach is under investigation using the statistical mechanics formalism devised for the study of phase transitions in physics.