Title: Social evolution of structural discrimination,
Abstract: Structural discrimination appears to be a persistent phenomenon in social
systems. We here outline the hypothesis that it can result from the
evolutionary dynamics of the social system itself. We study the evolutionary
dynamics of agents with neutral badges in a simple social game and find that
the badges are readily discriminated by the system although not being tied to
the payoff matrix of the game. The sole property of being distinguishable leads
to the subsequent discrimination, therefore providing a model for the emergence
and freezing of social prejudice.