THE COMMON MATHEMATICAL STRUCTURE OF DISPARATE SOCIOLOGICAL QUESTIONS

The chief attraction of mathematics is its beauty. It is customary, no netheless, to catalog the usefulness of mathematics. Accordingly, this paper shows how aspects of three quite different sociological problem s-assortative mating and the rise of gender inequality, the sense of j ustice, and economic and political upheavals and societal transformati ons-have an identical underlying mathematical structure. Thus, progres s in understanding the three sets of phenomena is linked; any new resu lt obtained for one problem will shed light on the other two.