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Title: Social Thermodynamics

Social Thermodynamics

An Interdisciplinary View

by Zhi Cheng (Author)
©2023 Monographs XXX, 416 Pages
Science, Society & Culture

Summary

In today’s changing world, all kinds of problems are plaguing people’s thinking. Why is there a conflict between Russia and Ukraine? Why did the Soviet Union continue to expand and interfere in the internal affairs of other countries? What is the difference between Roma in Europe and Hakka in China? What impact does the change in global temperature have on the development of human society? Why did the United States lose in Vietnam and Afghanistan? This book uses the knowledge of thermodynamics to explore the problems of social systems. We can even apply the theory of social thermodynamics to the animal world to see why the polygamous societies of lions are so markedly different from the monogamous societies of wolves. By quantifying some important parameters, the social thermodynamic system can be used to analyze the relationship between social pressure, social temperature and social space, and obtain corresponding critical parameters to judge the possibility of phase transition in social systems. At the same time, the state of the social system can be judged according to entropy and free energy. The main focus of this book is sociology, so the mathematics used is relatively simple.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • List of Figures
  • List of Tables
  • Preface
  • Ethical considerations for this book
  • 1 Thermodynamics and sociological fundamentals
  • 1.1 Thermodynamic basics
  • 1.1.1 Interactions between matter
  • 1.1.2 Feynman diagram representation of interactions
  • 1.1.3 Basic parameters of thermodynamic
  • 1.1.4 Equilibrium thermodynamic and non-equilibrium thermodynamic
  • 1.1.5 Linear approximations for nonlinear nonequilibrium thermodynamic
  • 1.1.6 Van der Waals equation and phase transition
  • 1.1.7 Case study: Critical temperature of water
  • 1.1.8 Relationship between thermodynamic parameters
  • 1.2 Theories of sociology
  • 1.2.1 The influence of thermodynamic theory on the development of sociology
  • 1.2.2 Levels of sociological research
  • 1.3 Combining thermodynamic with sociological theory
  • 1.3.1 Limitations of applying the laws of thermodynamic in society
  • 1.3.2 Quantification of social parameters
  • References
  • 2 Information processing and the formation of society
  • 2.1 Information and biological interaction
  • 2.1.1 What is information
  • 2.1.2 Information and cognition
  • 2.1.3 Case study: Bitcoin mining and energy consumption
  • 2.1.4 Information and interaction
  • 2.2 Neural networks and cognition
  • 2.2.1 A simple neural network model
  • 2.2.2 Neural network growth and cognition
  • 2.2.3 Asynchrony between physiological growth and cognitive growth
  • 2.2.4 Division of cognitive development stages based on artificial neural network brain model
  • 2.3 Interaction between neural networks
  • 2.3.1 Information exchange between neural networks from a thermodynamic perspective
  • 2.3.2 Cognition and interaction
  • 2.3.3 Two types of interactions
  • 2.3.4 Case study: Use Feynman diagram to represent the spread of virus
  • 2.4 Cognition and the formation of society
  • 2.4.1 A society based on the same cognition
  • 2.4.2 Three different social system structures
  • 2.4.3 Interaction between different societies
  • 2.4.4 Case study: Cultural conflict in schools
  • 2.4.5 Case study: Vietnam war
  • References
  • 3 Interactions in the social systems
  • 3.1 Interaction between individuals
  • 3.1.1 Social interaction and gender interaction
  • 3.1.2 The impact of information technology on society
  • 3.1.3 Social interactions
  • 3.1.4 Gender interaction
  • 3.1.5 Case study: Gender flow in East Asian countries
  • 3.1.6 Statistical mean of interaction
  • 3.2 Gender nucleus in family atom
  • 3.2.1 Gender relations
  • 3.2.2 The formation of basic social members
  • 3.2.3 Case study: Dynamics of African lions
  • 3.3 Family atoms
  • 3.3.1 Kinship
  • 3.3.2 Formation of family atom
  • 3.3.3 Interaction between family atoms
  • 3.4 Interaction between societies
  • 3.4.1 Nation and society
  • 3.4.2 Relatively independent social thermodynamic system
  • 3.4.3 Case study: Disintegration of the Soviet Union
  • 3.4.4 Interaction between social thermodynamic systems
  • 3.5 Interaction within different age groups
  • 3.5.1 Human cognitive growth and interaction
  • 3.5.2 Children interaction
  • 3.5.3 Case study: Academic differences of students in the background of Chinese and Western cultures
  • 3.5.4 Adult group interaction
  • 3.5.5 Interaction of the elderly
  • References
  • 4 Thermodynamic parameters of biological systems
  • 4.1 Comparison of biological and thermodynamic systems
  • 4.1.1 Energy input and output
  • 4.1.2 Relationship between various thermodynamic parameters
  • 4.1.3 Information flow
  • 4.2 Energy production and consumption in biological systems
  • 4.2.1 Levels of energy generation
  • 4.2.2 Composition of social energy
  • 4.2.3 Case study: Comparison of energy consumption between dinosaur society and human society
  • 4.3 Social space
  • 4.3.1 The volume of matter and biological social space
  • 4.3.2 Case study: Different versions of the Internet improve social space
  • 4.4 Pressure on biological systems
  • 4.4.1 Composition of social pressure
  • 4.4.2 Case study: Information force received by customers on Black Friday
  • 4.5 Temperature and entropy of biological systems
  • 4.5.1 The meaning of social temperature and entropy
  • 4.5.2 Case study: The relationship between climate change and the development of social civilization
  • References
  • 5 Basic social thermodynamic equations
  • 5.1 Overview
  • 5.1.1 Fundamental laws of thermodynamic systems
  • 5.1.2 The applicability of the laws of thermodynamics in social thermodynamic systems
  • 5.2 Equation of state
  • 5.2.1 The PVT equation for social systems
  • 5.2.2 Estimation of parameters
  • 5.2.3 A few examples
  • 5.2.4 Case study: Social temperature of wolves and population size limits
  • 5.2.5 Thermodynamic zeroth law and society
  • 5.3 The first law of thermodynamics
  • 5.3.1 Energy conservation and internal energy
  • 5.3.2 Changes to internal energy due to work
  • 5.3.3 Thermal capacity and enthalpy
  • 5.3.4 Case study: The impact of Ukrainian wheat on Egypt
  • 5.3.5 Reversible and adiabatic processes
  • 5.3.6 Carnot cycle
  • 5.3.7 Case study: Holiday effect
  • 5.4 The second law of thermodynamics
  • 5.4.1 The formulation of the second law of thermodynamics
  • 5.4.2 Entropy
  • 5.4.3 Entropy increase of balanced system
  • 5.4.4 Free energy
  • References
  • 6 Social thermodynamic phase transitions
  • 6.1 Changes in the number of social individuals
  • 6.1.1 Social thermodynamic system with variable number of individuals
  • 6.1.2 Variable particle number thermodynamic equations
  • 6.2 Conditions for thermal equilibrium
  • 6.2.1 Criteria for entropy
  • 6.2.2 Free energy criterion
  • 6.2.3 Case study: The impact of industrialization on a small town
  • 6.3 Phase equilibrium
  • 6.3.1 Phase diagram
  • 6.3.2 Three social states
  • 6.3.3 Critical temperature
  • 6.3.4 Actual isotherms
  • 6.3.5 Equilibrium phase transition
  • 6.3.6 Social thermodynamic system well below critical temperature
  • 6.3.7 Case study: Critical temperature in Soviet society
  • 6.4 The impact of information technology development on social thermodynamic parameters
  • 6.4.1 The role of information technology
  • 6.4.2 Information technology and changes in social thermodynamic system status
  • 6.4.3 Case study: The impact of information technology on traditional society
  • References
  • 7 Social-oriented society
  • 7.1 The origin of social-oriented society
  • 7.1.1 The effect of temperature on social types
  • 7.1.2 History
  • 7.1.3 Case study: Thermodynamic parameters of Hun society
  • 7.1.4 Modern social-oriented society
  • 7.1.5 Case study: Thermodynamic parameters of Ukraine before and after the annexation of Crimea
  • 7.2 Interaction method
  • 7.2.1 Gender interaction in social-oriented society
  • 7.2.2 Social interaction in social-oriented society
  • 7.2.3 Case study: The interaction of social-oriented society from the perspective of classic literary works
  • 7.3 The two states and development of social-oriented society.
  • 7.3.1 Gaseous state
  • 7.3.2 Liquid state
  • 7.3.3 Development of social-oriented society
  • References
  • 8 Family-oriented society
  • 8.1 The origin and development of family-oriented society
  • 8.1.1 The influence of warm climate on the formation of family-oriented society
  • 8.1.2 Early family-oriented society
  • 8.1.3 Case study: Hakka people in southern China
  • 8.1.4 Modern family-oriented society
  • 8.1.5 Case study: Thermodynamic parameters within a family
  • 8.2 Interaction
  • 8.2.1 Interaction within the family
  • 8.2.2 Social interaction
  • 8.2.3 Calculation of thermodynamic parameters
  • 8.2.4 Case study: Urban density comparison of Tokyo and London
  • 8.3 Three states of family-oriented society
  • 8.3.1 Gaseous family-oriented society
  • 8.3.2 Liquid family-oriented society
  • 8.3.3 Case study: Roma society in Europe
  • 8.3.4 Solid family society
  • References
  • 9 Balanced society
  • 9.1 The origin and development of balanced society
  • 9.1.1 The family-oriented society of ancient Greece and Rome
  • 9.1.2 The emergence of balanced society
  • 9.1.3 Diverse society
  • 9.1.4 Social changes in the Internet era
  • 9.2 Interaction of balanced society
  • 9.2.1 The interaction between social individuals and family atoms
  • 9.2.2 Interaction between gender molecular and family atom
  • 9.3 The nature of interfaces between multiple societies
  • 9.3.1 Multiple types of social contacts
  • 9.3.2 Space energy region
  • 9.3.3 Case study: A quantitative analysis of the academic differences of students from Chinese and Western cultural Backgrounds
  • 9.4 Types of balanced society
  • 9.4.1 Gaseous balanced society
  • 9.4.2 Liquid balanced society
  • 9.4.3 Mixed state of balanced society
  • 9.5 Climate change and human social development
  • 9.5.1 Trends in climate change since the birth of the earth
  • 9.5.2 Energy generated by human activities
  • 9.5.3 Effects of heat generated by human society on the atmosphere
  • 9.5.4 Greenhouse gas effects
  • 9.5.5 Social Thermodynamic Parameters of Global Human Society
  • 9.5.6 Impact of climate change on human society
  • References
  • Appendix I: Commonly used international system of units (SI) units
  • Appendix II: Constants
  • Appendix III: Parameters used in this book and their meaning
  • Appendix IV: Important formulas

List of Tables

Table 1.1.Commonly used thermodynamic parameters

Table 1.2.The hierarchy of society

Table 1.3.Contrast between thermodynamics development and sociological development

Table 1.4.The layers to which the different sociological schools belong

Preface

Since the 19th century, sociological theory has developed rapidly. In particular, the development of science led to the application of Comte’s positivism to sociology (Comte, 1858), which promoted sociology from an empirical theory to the level of social science. The development of sociological theory in turn promotes the development and change of the whole society. The creation of social conflict theories of Marx (Collins, 1975) led to the vigorous rise of the international communist movement. Dewey’s social psychology theory (Deway, 1929) has caused changes in the field of education, promoting education from teacher-centered teaching to student-centered teaching (Yun, Li, Fu, & Liu, 2018). And Edgar Morin’s complex thought theories (Morin, 1992) have promoted the development of social democracy and pluralism. From the impact of these sociological theories on social change, we can see that sociological theories occupy a very important position in the social sciences and are the foundation of the entire social sciences.

From the perspective of the theoretical development process of sociology, the theory of sociology has gradually developed from early philosophical thinking to the application of positivism theory, and then to the emergence of conflict theory, structural functionalism, symbolic interaction theory, and complex thinking, sociological theory has experienced a development process from macro to micro. The various important achievements in sociology so far seem to be mainly concentrated in the micro-field, which is mainly influenced by the gradual expansion of the research objects of natural science, especially natural science from the macrocosmic level to micro quantum mechanics, molecular biology, etc. For example, since the 1960s, Berger, Luckmann and Schutz’s Social Construction Theory (Berger & Luckmann, 2016; Muzzetto, 2015), Mead, Blumer’s social behaviorism and symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1980), Goffman’s Dramaturgical approach (Sarbin, 2003) and other micro-sociological theories have a great influence. Sociology has also begun to pay attention to the study of complex structures of societies at the microscopic level (Montuori, 2004; Morin, 1992).

However, in the 20th century, the field of macrosociology has not developed so fast. Especially since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the validity of some macrosociological theory has been met with a degree of skepticism. This is also one of the reasons why the study of macro sociological theory has stagnated.

On the other hand, the lack of a newer macro-level sociological theory will bring more problems to modern social practice. Since the industrial revolution in the 18th century, many new problems have appeared in human society. Including the impact of human activities on climate change (National Academy of Sciences, 2020), the outbreak of two world wars, the invention and manufacture of nuclear weapons, the imbalance of world development, the impact of the rapid development of information technology on traditional society and so on. Among various problems, the biggest impact on human society is the global climate change caused by the human activities. Before industrialization, humans were only one component of the entire social system. The energy absorbed and consumed by human activities is basically the same as that of animals and plants in the earth ecosystem. After hundreds of thousands of years of development, human activities are also very effectively integrated into the entire earth’s ecosystem. But since the industrialization of society, human activities began to have a huge impact on climate change, and even began to show the ability to dominate global climate change. The ecological balance of the earth has been disrupted. Therefore, the social system will inevitably include animals and plants other than humans and the entire material cycle of the earth. Due to the lack of a globe change perspective, the existing sociological theories only look at the contradictions and conflicts of these issues from the perspective of human beings or society itself, and as a result, it has been unable to grasp the root causes of these social problems. Naturally, there is a lack of effective solutions, resulting in many social problems that are difficult to solve in modern society. Such as the uncontrollable rise in atmospheric temperature, the seemingly inevitable conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the effective control and destruction of nuclear weapons, etc.

Therefore, in the absence of an effective theoretical guide for studying social issues at a very macro level, such as the level of global change, each country may face these problems in a way that is beneficial to it. The end result is more problems, making it difficult to effectively implement long-term measures that can curb the rapid rise in global temperatures to some extent.

For example, during Russia’s war in Ukraine in 2022, in response to the lack of natural gas, some European countries have begun to restart coal-fired power generation (Kappeler & John, 2022). In other strife, the climate agreement simply cannot be effectively implemented. Some countries have withdrawn from relevant climate agreements at will (Kann, 2019), while others suspend climate cooperation between countries (Yeung, 2022). Even in the summer of 2022, the average temperature in many cities of the world exceeds the historical record, which does not seem to attract enough attention to the seriousness of the problem of greenhouse gas emissions.

Of course, some theories related to sociology may also have various problems themselves. For example, Malthus’s population theory (Weir, 1991) holds that population growth is exponential, and to suppress this population growth requires war and famine. But in fact, from the perspective of human development history, although the short-term population and the reduction of human activities brought about by the war do exist, after the war, the population will have a stronger revenge growth process. For example, the emergence of the baby boom after World War II was the period of the fastest population growth in human history. After decades of long-term peaceful development, the population growth rate of many developed countries has slowed down, and even negative population growth has occurred. This also reflects that the previous sociology-related theories may encounter more difficulties when they are applied in practice today.

In addition to the lack of macroscopic research perspective, the previous sociological theory also has a deficiency, which is reflected in the insufficient mathematical tools used. The vast majority of sociological theory is based on qualitative analysis. The advantage of using qualitative analysis is that it has a high generality and can better generalize some very complex issues. Qualitative approaches, however, introduce conceptual uncertainty. Since everyone has their own cultural background and their own way of understanding, there may be very large differences in the understanding of the same concept.

In turn, we can refer to quantitative analysis methods in the field of economics. Since the importance of quantitative analysis has been recognized for a long time in the field of economics, very effective mathematical tools have been established long ago to solve economic problems. This has also contributed to the development of the modern economy. The continuous development of the global economy has also promoted world peace and stability.

Therefore, if it is possible to use mathematical tools to establish quantitative models similar to economics in sociological theory, I believe that it can be helpful to eliminate the uncertainty of various concepts and to analyze various problems existing in human society.

For this reason, this book will look at social issues from a macro perspective of global change. This also means that human society not only has the interaction of internal social individuals, but the entire social system is also closely related to the global environment in which it exists. These global environments include global geological and atmospheric systems and ecosystems composed of biodiversity. Human society not only has a self-organizing process maintained by the internal dynamic system of the society, but also continuously absorbs energy from the sun, and also interacts with various subsystems in the global environment.

Historical document data show that when the global temperature is at a high enough level, the entire human civilization is in a very prosperous era. When the temperature of the entire earth enters the cold ice age, various conflicts and wars will occur frequently in human society. Of course, in modern society, with the development of modern technology, a large amount of fossil energy stored under the earth’s crust has been excavated and burned, which will generate additional heat in the entire earth’s environment. At the same time, the burning of fossil fuels releases a large amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which further causes the earth’s atmospheric temperature to rise at an unprecedented rate. This rapid rise in atmospheric temperature has brought great uncertainty to the development of human society. In this monograph on the thermodynamics of society, some of these issues will be discussed at a relatively large length.

Therefore, in terms of content arrangement, Chapter 1 of this book provides an overview of some basic knowledge of physics and thermodynamics. In particular, the various parameters that need to be used in subsequent chapters are listed in the first section of this chapter, so that they can be easily referenced in subsequent chapters.

The development of thermodynamics and the development of sociology are contrasted in Section 1.2. This contrast allows us to see the relationship between the development of thermodynamics and the development of sociology. This also allows us to deeply understand why it is necessary to introduce the methodology of thermodynamics in sociology to solve social problems.

Because the structure of the social thermodynamic system is very complex. Most of the various factors involved are qualitative concepts, and some concepts even involve the meaning of literature and art. In order to meet the quantitative requirements in subsequent chapters, some microscopic concepts need to be scientifically defined. Therefore, the analysis in Chapters 2 and 3 has gradually risen from the research on the underlying information transmission and the composition of neural network cells to the research on how neural networks process information and human cognitive processes. These are relatively microscopic system structures, which directly determine the macroscopic social structure. Because in the social thermodynamic system, these microscopic system structures lead to great differences in the interactions between different social individuals. And those different interactions form the basic social members of different internal structures. Ultimately, the interaction between the basic social members of these different structures forms different types of societies.

Chapter 2 proposes a division of three different types of societies, which are the focus of this book. Therefore, the content of Chapters 2 and 3 of this book is indeed very necessary. However, if you want to quickly understand the calculation of social thermodynamic systems and the laws of phase transitions, you can skip Chapters 2 and 3 and read Chapter 4 directly. Because Chapter 4 begins with an analysis of the general properties of social thermodynamic systems, the reliance on the content of the previous two chapters is less strong. This is also consistent with the non-linear way some academic writings use to arrange content. If you run into problems reading Chapters 4, 5, and 6, you can always go back to Chapters 2 and 3 for comparison.

Of course, if you have enough patience and time, it is recommended to read directly in the order of the chapters. In this way, the main knowledge of social thermodynamics can be comprehensively and systematically understood.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 apply the general laws of thermodynamics to social thermodynamic systems. This involves the quantification of various parameters. In Chapter 4, energy, social pressure, social space, and social temperature in thermodynamics are quantified. These quantifications are combined with actual physical processes. Therefore, the quantified sociological parameters have the same dimension as the physical thermodynamic system parameters. For example, the social temperature after quantification is comparable to the physical temperature of the environment. This also means that if the social temperature of the social thermodynamic system is lower than the physical temperature of the environment, according to the zeroth law of thermodynamics, the social thermodynamic system is more likely to absorb energy from the environment. This will promote the social thermodynamic system to a more stable state. And if the social temperature of the social thermodynamic system exceeds the ambient temperature, it means that it will be more difficult for the social thermodynamic system to absorb energy from the environment. The whole society will be in an unstable state.

In Chapter 5, these quantified social thermodynamic parameters are related to each other through the equation of state. By comparing the physical thermodynamic system, we can know that there are isobaric, isovolumetric and adiabatic processes in the social thermodynamic system. The energy absorbed and released by different social thermodynamic processes and the changes in social temperature are not the same. Solving the equation of state can be used to explain some important social phenomena. For example, the number of animal groups is limited, the long holiday effect, etc.

Chapter 6 discusses a very important social thermodynamic phenomenon, which is the phase transition. The existence of phase transition often means drastic changes in society. Of course some phase transitions are good, others can be catastrophic. By solving the critical parameters of a thermodynamic system, we can learn under what conditions a society is likely to undergo a phase transition and avoid catastrophe. In addition, in the above chapters, in order to avoid complicated mathematical formulas interfering with readability, some contents that have more mathematical formulas or have little influence on the understanding of concepts are listed in the form of “Math further”. If it does not affect the understanding of the content, it can be skipped when reading.

Chapters 7, 8, and 9 respectively analyze the family-oriented society, the social-oriented society and the balanced society. Each of these three chapters has a very detailed analysis of the origins of each society. This could explain some of the things we’ve been confused about in the past. For example, why are there so many different types of societies and cultures in this world? Why are there conflicts between different types of social cultures? How to resolve these conflicts? and many more. These should all be able to obtain corresponding answers and solutions from the theory of social thermodynamics.

Finally, thanks to the scholars who have peer-reviewed this book. Their very detailed analysis and recommendations have been very helpful in improving the quality of this book.

Zhi Cheng

Nov. 2022. Guangzhou, China.

Ethical considerations for this book

Since this book involves the relationship between human society and the natural environment, as well as the survival and development of human society itself, when writing this book, I also noticed the possible impact of the content of this book on existing social forms and cultures. Therefore, I believe this will involve some ethical issues. In order to prevent the publication of this book from adversely affecting various ethical requirements and different cultural values, the following statement is hereby made:

Details

Pages
XXX, 416
Year
2023
ISBN (PDF)
9781636670669
ISBN (ePUB)
9781636670676
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781636670683
DOI
10.3726/b20738
Language
English
Publication date
2023 (August)
Keywords
balanced society thermodynamics family-oriented society social-oriented society interaction Marx sociology Van der Waals equaltion Social Thermodynamics: An Interdisciplinary View Zhi Cheng
Published
New York, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, Oxford, 2023. XXX, 416 pp., 25 b/w ill., 4 tables.

Biographical notes

Zhi Cheng (Author)

Zhi Cheng graduated from the Department of Physics of Beijing Normal University in 1988 then worked at the School of Education of Guangzhou University until 2015. He is currently an independent scholar engaged in research work on theoretical physics, sociology, and cognitive science. He has published eight Chinese and English academic books including A Concise Introduction to General Relativity, Cognitive Development Theory.

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Title: Social Thermodynamics