A model of the dynamics of appearance of a new collective feeling, in addition and opposite to an existing one, is presented. Using percolation theory, the collective feeling of insecurity is shown to be able to coexist with the opposite collective feeling of safety. Indeed this coexistence of contradictory social feelings result from the simultaneous percolation of two infinite clusters of people who are respectively experiencing a safe and unsafe local environment. Therefore opposing claims on national debates over insecurity are shown to be possibly both valid.

This paper illustrates the effects of global or local social influences upon binary choice. Analytical results are summarized and an ACE (Agent based Computational Economics) approach is used to investigate the corresponding mechanisms of interdependence in the case of a coordination problem and finite size effects.1 This approach is qualified as "sociophysics". For a discussion of the relationship with mechanical physics, see (

No abstract

No abstract