Social polarisation at the local level: a four-town comparative study

Koch, Insa, Fransham, Mark James ORCID: 0000-0002-9284-2517, Cant, Sarah, Ebrey, Jill, Glucksberg, Luna and Savage, Mike ORCID: 0000-0003-4563-9564 (2019) Social polarisation at the local level: a four-town comparative study. Working Paper (37). International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

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Abstract

The concept of polarisation, where the extremes of a distribution are growing and where there is a missing or shrinking ‘middle’, has attracted recent interest driven by concerns about the consequences of inequality in British society. This paper brings together evidence of economic, spatial and relational polarisation across four contrasting towns in the United Kingdom: Oldham, Margate, Oxford and Tunbridge Wells. Deploying a comparative community analysis, buttressed by quantitative framing, we demonstrate the need to recognise how local social processes vary amongst places that on the face of it display similar trends. We show how local polarisation plays out differently depending on whether it is driven ‘from above’ or ‘from below’. Across all four towns, we draw out how a ‘missing middle’ of intermediaries who might be able to play roles in cementing local relations poses a major challenge for political mobilisation in times of inequality

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL:	http://www.lse.ac.uk/International-Inequalities
Additional Information:	© 2019 The Authors
Divisions:	Law International Inequalities Institute Sociology
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
JEL classification:	R - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics > R0 - General > R00 - General P - Economic Systems > P5 - Comparative Economic Systems > P50 - General
Date Deposited:	25 Oct 2019 14:06
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2024 11:03
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/102216

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