polarization

The tendency towards concentration at two opposing extremes, observed by sociologists in a large number of diverse contexts. For example, on the basis of research on the Isle of Sheppey, R. E. Pahl (Divisions of Labour, 1984) identified a process of social polarization which was said to be producing in Britain a division into ‘work rich’ and ‘work poor’ households . Pahl argued that opportunities in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy tended to cluster in the same households; or, put somewhat differently, that households whose members were unemployed did not (indeed according to Pahl could not) compensate for this by informal economic activities in the hidden, underground, or so-called black economy .

Many sociological typologies are descriptions of polar types or extremes: one obvious example is Ferdinand Tönnies's distinction between Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesellschaft(association). Sociologists are also prone to polarization when describing processes of social change -as, for example, in Karl Marx's account of the polarization of classes in capitalist societies into the ‘two great hostile camps’ of bourgeoisie and proletariat.