Stronger together? The homophily trap in networks
February 24, 2025

Marcos Oliveira, Leonie Neuhauser, Fariba Karimi

Abstract

While homophily – the tendency to link with similar others – may nurture a sense of belonging and shared values, it can also hinder diversity and widen inequalities. Here, we unravel this trade-off analytically, revealing homophily traps for minority groups: scenarios where increased homophilic interaction among minorities negatively affects their structural opportunities within a network. We demonstrate that homophily traps arise when minority size falls below 25% of a network, at which point homophily comes at the expense of lower structural visibility for the minority group. Our work reveals that social groups require a critical size to benefit from homophily without incurring structural costs, providing insights into core processes underlying the emergence of group inequality in networks.

arXiv (2024).

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[arXiv]

Cite this paper

@misc{oliveira2025strongertogetherhomophilytrap,
      title={Stronger together? The homophily trap in networks},
      author={Marcos Oliveira and Leonie Neuhauser and Fariba Karimi},
      year={2025},
      eprint={2412.20158},
      archivePrefix={arXiv},
      primaryClass={cs.SI},
      url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.20158},
}