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

中文翻译：

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地方层面的社会两极分化：英国不平等政治化挑战的四镇比较研究

由于对英国社会不平等后果的担忧，两极分化的概念，即分布的极端正在增长，而“中间”缺失或缩小，最近引起了人们的兴趣。本文汇集了英国四个对比鲜明的城镇的经济、空间和关系极化的证据：奥尔德姆、马盖特、牛津和滕布里奇韦尔斯。通过在定量框架的支持下部署比较社区分析，我们证明需要认识到当地社会进程在表面上显示出相似趋势的地方之间的差异。我们展示了局部极化如何不同地发挥作用，这取决于它是“从上面”还是“从下面”驱动的。横跨四个城镇，