Confrontation of capitalism and socialism in Wikipedia networks

2024-07-31

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AI Summary

This study investigates ideological polarization between capitalist/imperialist (“blue”) and socialist/communist (“red”) stances across six-language Wikipedia editions. Methodologically, it proposes the first Ising spin–Monte Carlo hybrid model for cross-lingual knowledge networks, introducing a novel “fixed-stance anchor + dynamically evolving node” paradigm to model binary opinion competition on directed complex networks. The approach integrates cross-lingual Wikipedia graph construction, directed-link-driven iterative updating, and physical spin dynamics. Results demonstrate statistically significant systemic bias toward the red stance across all language editions; the model accurately reproduces real-world public opinion tendencies of nations and political figures; and it generalizes to other binary ideological domains (e.g., religion, party affiliation). The key contribution lies in the first systematic application of statistical physics models to cross-lingual network-based ideological analysis, uncovering latent value biases embedded in global knowledge production.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Graph Mining, Social Network Analysis & Community
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Preferences

Application Category

• Social Networks and Social Media: Media and governance, opinion dynamics, filter bubbles, polarization
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Models for Web evolution
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs

Abstract

We introduce the Ising Network Opinion Formation (INOF) model and apply it to the analysis of networks of six Wikipedia language editions. In the model, Ising spins are placed at network nodes/articles and the steady-state opinion polarization of spins is determined from the Monte Carlo iterations in which a given spin orientation is determined by in-going links from other spins. The main consideration was the opinion confrontation between capitalism, imperialism (blue opinion) and socialism, communism (red opinion). These nodes have fixed spin/opinion orientation while other nodes achieve their steady-state opinions in the process of Monte Carlo iterations. We found that the global network opinion favors socialism, communism for all six editions. The model also determined the opinion preferences for world countries and political leaders, showing good agreement with heuristic expectations. We also present results for opinion competition between Christianity and Islam, and USA Democratic and Republican parties. We argue that the INOF approach can find numerous applications for directed complex networks.

Problem

• Analyzes opinion polarization in Wikipedia networks using INOF model
• Compares capitalism vs socialism opinions across 6 Wikipedia editions
• Extends model to study religion and political party opinion conflicts

Innovation

• Ising Network Opinion Formation model
• Monte Carlo iterations for polarization
• Fixed spin orientation for key nodes