Next Generation Social Science program

The NGS2 program will work to determine fundamental measures and causal mechanisms that explain and predict the emergence of collective identity. A focus on "what matters most" for emergent social phenomena such as collective identity presents an important and complex challenge for NGS2 research communities as they seek to validate tools and methods. While the NGS2 program will focus on collective identity formation as an exemplar research question, DARPA anticipates that successful NGS2 capabilities will have benefits for tackling other complex problems and topics, including resilience in social networks and structures, changes in cultural norms or beliefs, emergence of cooperation/competitions and social influences on preferences and cognition.