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Humans behavior often varies depending on the opponent's group membership, with both positive consequences (e.g., cooperation or mutual help) and negative ones (e.g., stereotyping, oppression, or even genocide). An influential model developed by Hammond and Axelrod (HA) highlighted the emergence of macrolevel "ethnocentric cooperation" from the aggregation of microlevel interactions based on arbitrary tags signaling group membership. We extended this model to include a wider set of agents' behaviors including the possibility of harming others. This allowed to check whether and under which conditions xenophobia can emerge beside or in alternative to ethnocentric cooperation. The model was compared to Swedish data documenting social unrest and proxies of cooperative behaviors at the municipal level. The validation results supported the model predictions on conflict but not the ones on cooperation, casting doubts on HA's original argument.

This article investigates the impact of the second national research assessment (VQR 2004–10), which was performed in 2011 by the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes, on publication strategies by sociologists in Italy. We reconstructed all publications from Italian sociologists in Scopus between 2006 and 2015, that is five years before and after the assessment. We also checked academic tenure and promotions during the assessment. Our results showed the potentially distortive effect of institutional signals on publications given that Italian sociologists published more in journals that were considered influential for assessment, some, however, being of doubtful quality. Our findings would suggest that the use of informed peer review and ad hoc journal ranking could stimulate adaptive responses based on strategic journal targeting to ensure publication.

'Fuel riots' are a distinct type of energy-related conflict. We provide the first fuel riots database and explore their social, economic and environmental drivers. The analysis demonstrates links between fuel riots and high international crude oil prices in countries characterised by weak state capacity, deficient governance, fuel scarcity and poor economic performance. We suggest a potential causal pathway for fuel riots: when international fuel prices spike, net fuel-importing countries bear higher costs. If these countries are politically unstable and their government inefficient, the likelihood of fuel riots is high. Wealthier countries can absorb price increases and maintain subsidies, as opposed to poorer societies where fuel riots are more likely. Our findings demonstrate the role of state capacity and socio-economic conditions in enabling conflict, and will inform policy by identifying fertile ground for fuel riots, i.e. societies likely to be affected by increases in fuel prices due to scarcity and climate action (such as carbon taxes). We propose that policies which better control international prices and action designed to reduce political instability in vulnerable countries are key to preventing fuel riots. Fuel subsidy reform must anticipate popular opposition and mitigate the impact upon vulnerable populations in order to reduce the likelihood of instability and minimise hardship.

Due to negative consequences of climate change for agriculture and food production shocks affecting different areas of the world, the past two decades saw the conditions of global food security increasingly worsen. This has resulted in negative consequences for the world economy, partly causing international food price spikes and social upheavals. In this paper we present statistical findings along with a preliminary version of an original agent-based model called the Dawe Global Security Model that simulates the global food market and the political fragility of countries. The model simulates the effects of food insecurity on international food prices and how these, coupled with national political fragility and international food trade can, in turn, increase the probability of food riots in countries. The agents in the model are the 213 countries of the world whose characteristics reflect empirical data and the international trade of food is also simulated based on real trade partnerships and data. The model has been informed, calibrated and validated using real data and the results of these procedures are presented in the paper. To further test the model we also present the model's forecasts for the near future in terms of food prices and incidence of food riots. The Dawe Global Security Model can be used to test scenarios on the evolution of shocks to global food production and analyse consequences for food riots. Further developments of the model can include national responses to food crises to investigate how countries can influence the spread of global food crises.

So far, there has been mixed evidence in the literature regarding the relationship between environmental attitudes and actual `green' actions, something known as the attitude-behavior gap. This raises the question of when attitudes can actually work as a lever to promote environmental objectives, such as climate change mitigation, and, conversely, when other factors would be more effective. This paper presents an online experiment with real money at stake and real-world consequences designed to test the effect of environmental attitudes on behavior under various conditions. We found that environmental attitudes affected behavior only in low-cost situations. This finding is consistent with the low-cost hypothesis of environmental behavior postulating that concerned individuals will undertake low-cost actions in order to reduce the cognitive dissonance between their attitudes and rational realization of the environmental impact of their behavior but avoid higher-cost actions despite their greater potential as far as environmental protection. This finding has important consequences for the design of more effective climate policies in a democratic context as it puts limits on what can be achieved by raising environmental concern alone.

The impact of resources on social unrest is of increasing interest to political leaders, business and civil society. Recent events have highlighted that (lack of) access to critical resources, including food, energy and water, can, in certain circumstances, lead to violent demonstrations. In this paper, we assess a number of political fragility indices to see whether they are good indicators of propensity to food riots. We found that the most accurate is the Political Instability and Absence of Violence Indicator of the Worldwide Governance Indicators by the World Bank. We compute a likelihood of experiencing a food riot for each quartile of this index. We found that the self-sufficiency of food does not seem to affect the likelihood of the occurrence of food riots, but that the level of political stability of a country does have a role. In addition, we identify a monthly and annual threshold for the Food and Agriculture Organisation Food Price Index, above which food riots in fragile states are more likely to occur.

The impact of resources on social unrest is of increasing interest to politicalleaders, business and civil society. Recent events have highlighted that (lack of) access tocritical resources, including food, energy and water, can, in certain circumstances, lead toviolent demonstrations. In this paper, we assess a number of political fragility indices tosee whether they are good indicators of propensity to food riots. We found that the mostaccurate is the Political Instability and Absence of Violence Indicator of the WorldwideGovernance Indicators by the World Bank. We compute a likelihood of experiencing afood riot for each quartile of this index. We found that the self-sufficiency of food does notseem to affect the likelihood of the occurrence of food riots, but that the level of politicalstability of a country does have a role. In addition, we identify a monthly and annualthreshold for the Food and Agriculture Organisation Food Price Index, above which foodriots in fragile states are more likely to occur.

This compelling book offers a fresh and novel approach to study cultural and artistic expression from the perspective of 'the commons'. It demonstrates how identifying cultures as shared resources is useful in eliciting the main factors and social dilemmas affecting the production and evolution of cultural expression. Adopting the unifying perspective of 'the cultural commons', the chapters provide in-depth analysis of a wide range of cultural resources, including traditional cultural expression, heritage, gastronomy and cultural content in virtual worlds. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective and gathering contributions from economic, sociological and legal fields, this timely book proposes a new and complementary research agenda.