Opinion dynamics: inhomogeneous Boltzmann-type equations modelling opinion leadership and political segregation

We propose and investigate different kinetic models for opinion formation, when the opinion formation process depends on an additional independent variable, e.g. a leadership or a spatial variable. More specifically, we consider: (i) opinion dynamics under the effect of opinion leadership, where each individual is characterised not only by its opinion, but also by another independent variable which quantifies leadership qualities; (ii) opinion dynamics modelling political segregation in the ‘The Big Sort’, a phenomenon that US citizens increasingly prefer to live in neighbourhoods with politically likeminded individuals. Based on microscopic opinion consensus dynamics such models lead to inhomogeneous Boltzmann-type equations for the opinion distribution. We derive macroscopic Fokker-Planck-type equations in a quasiinvariant opinion limit and present results of numerical experiments.