%0 Book Section %1 statphys23_0864 %A Fortunato, S. %A Castellano, C. %B Abstract Book of the XXIII IUPAP International Conference on Statistical Physics %C Genova, Italy %D 2007 %E Pietronero, Luciano %E Loreto, Vittorio %E Zapperi, Stefano %K elections scaling statphys23 topic-11 universality %T Scaling and universality in real elections %U http://st23.statphys23.org/webservices/abstract/preview_pop.php?ID_PAPER=864 %X Human societies exhibit many examples of nontrivial collective behavior generated by the interaction of a large number of individuals. To characterize these emergent phenomena and understand their origin it is crucial to investigate statistically the macroscopic patterns, with the aim to uncover regularities that may open the way to a physical modelling of social dynamics. Elections are a prominent example of social collective phenomena, and a quantitative statistical analysis has begun. Here we show that, in proportional elections, the distribution of the number of votes received by candidates is a universal scaling function, identical in different countries and years. A simple dynamical model for the behaviour of voters, based on the spreading of word of mouth, reproduces the universal distribution. This finding reveals the existence in the voting process of a general microscopic dynamics that does not depend on the historical, political and/or economical context where voters operate.

@incollection{statphys23_0864, abstract = {Human societies exhibit many examples of nontrivial collective behavior generated by the interaction of a large number of individuals. To characterize these emergent phenomena and understand their origin it is crucial to investigate statistically the macroscopic patterns, with the aim to uncover regularities that may open the way to a physical modelling of social dynamics. Elections are a prominent example of social collective phenomena, and a quantitative statistical analysis has begun. Here we show that, in proportional elections, the distribution of the number of votes received by candidates is a universal scaling function, identical in different countries and years. A simple dynamical model for the behaviour of voters, based on the spreading of word of mouth, reproduces the universal distribution. This finding reveals the existence in the voting process of a general microscopic dynamics that does not depend on the historical, political and/or economical context where voters operate.}, added-at = {2007-06-20T10:16:09.000+0200}, address = {Genova, Italy}, author = {Fortunato, S. and Castellano, C.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/26bb775b94201c2aa49ae7142fe817373/statphys23}, booktitle = {Abstract Book of the XXIII IUPAP International Conference on Statistical Physics}, editor = {Pietronero, Luciano and Loreto, Vittorio and Zapperi, Stefano}, interhash = {482e3fec61a7f44d7ddb1a515b8951b6}, intrahash = {6bb775b94201c2aa49ae7142fe817373}, keywords = {elections scaling statphys23 topic-11 universality}, month = {9-13 July}, timestamp = {2007-06-20T10:16:31.000+0200}, title = {Scaling and universality in real elections}, url = {http://st23.statphys23.org/webservices/abstract/preview_pop.php?ID_PAPER=864}, year = 2007 }