Human Organization as a Metastable Dissipative System: A Phenomenological Framework Based on Non-Linear Dynamics and Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics

This work proposes a phenomenological dynamic framework to describe human organizational stability using tools from non-equilibrium thermodynamics, stochastic dynamics, and complex systems theory. We interpret human organizational structures as metastable dissipative systems whose persistence depends on the balance between stabilizing fluxes and internal dissipation mechanisms. Moving beyond traditional sociophysics models focused on information propagation or binary consensus, we introduce a continuous, effective macroscopic variable of collective organization coupled to a non-linear dynamic potential. This formulation provides a formal description of metastability, critical transitions, organizational hysteresis, collective relaxation, and fluctuation-induced reorganization. The temporal evolution is modeled via a stochastic Langevin equation over an effective organizational landscape. Numerical simulations and the exact stationary solution of the associated Fokker-Planck equation demonstrate that small perturbations can induce abrupt macroscopic transitions near critical thresholds. Ultimately, this work does not aim to reduce human systems to strict physical equivalents, but to demonstrate that universal dynamic principles of collective stability can be effectively represented through variables formally analogous to complex non-equilibrium systems.

Sociophysics; Dissipative structures; Metastability; Langevin equation; Fokker-Planck equation; Organizational resilience; Non-linear dynamics

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