A two-dimensional measure of polarization
The link between economic distribution and social conflict—and the notion that this link arises from individuals’ sense of identification with those similar to them and their feelings of alienation from individuals with different characteristics—has spurred a literature on polarization, a concept di...
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| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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International Food Policy Research Institute
2008
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161283 |
| _version_ | 1855514144058376192 |
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| author | Mogues, Tewodaj |
| author_browse | Mogues, Tewodaj |
| author_facet | Mogues, Tewodaj |
| author_sort | Mogues, Tewodaj |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | The link between economic distribution and social conflict—and the notion that this link arises from individuals’ sense of identification with those similar to them and their feelings of alienation from individuals with different characteristics—has spurred a literature on polarization, a concept distinct from inequality. This literature, with few exceptions, has nearly exclusively focused on polarization along one (i.e., economic) dimension, despite ample evidence that identification and alienation are often formulated along noneconomic attributes. This paper extends previous work by presenting and discussing a measure of polarization that allows analysis of the distribution of society along two dimensions—an economic variable (e.g., income) and an immutable variable with social significance (e.g., skin color). The measure is discussed in light of four axioms that specify the types of distributional changes that should reasonably translate into a higher degree of socioeconomic polarization. Applying the measure to a family of functions that can represent both unimodal and bimodal population distributions, the measure satisfies the four axioms—briefly summarized as a shrinking of the middle class, greater concentration of the population around poles, greater distance between the poles, and higher correlation between the two variables—under certain parametric restrictions. Unlike the existing studies, which explore multidimensional polarization, we propose a polarization measure that treats the social attribute as continuous (and hence with ordinal properties), thus being able to capture both identification and alienation in social and economic terms. " |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace161283 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2008 |
| publishDateRange | 2008 |
| publishDateSort | 2008 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1612832025-11-06T05:07:10Z A two-dimensional measure of polarization Mogues, Tewodaj socioecological systems distribution systems governance policy analysis The link between economic distribution and social conflict—and the notion that this link arises from individuals’ sense of identification with those similar to them and their feelings of alienation from individuals with different characteristics—has spurred a literature on polarization, a concept distinct from inequality. This literature, with few exceptions, has nearly exclusively focused on polarization along one (i.e., economic) dimension, despite ample evidence that identification and alienation are often formulated along noneconomic attributes. This paper extends previous work by presenting and discussing a measure of polarization that allows analysis of the distribution of society along two dimensions—an economic variable (e.g., income) and an immutable variable with social significance (e.g., skin color). The measure is discussed in light of four axioms that specify the types of distributional changes that should reasonably translate into a higher degree of socioeconomic polarization. Applying the measure to a family of functions that can represent both unimodal and bimodal population distributions, the measure satisfies the four axioms—briefly summarized as a shrinking of the middle class, greater concentration of the population around poles, greater distance between the poles, and higher correlation between the two variables—under certain parametric restrictions. Unlike the existing studies, which explore multidimensional polarization, we propose a polarization measure that treats the social attribute as continuous (and hence with ordinal properties), thus being able to capture both identification and alienation in social and economic terms. " 2008 2024-11-21T09:54:39Z 2024-11-21T09:54:39Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161283 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Mogues, Tewodaj. 2008. A two-dimensional measure of polarization. IFPRI Discussion Paper 837. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161283 |
| spellingShingle | socioecological systems distribution systems governance policy analysis Mogues, Tewodaj A two-dimensional measure of polarization |
| title | A two-dimensional measure of polarization |
| title_full | A two-dimensional measure of polarization |
| title_fullStr | A two-dimensional measure of polarization |
| title_full_unstemmed | A two-dimensional measure of polarization |
| title_short | A two-dimensional measure of polarization |
| title_sort | two dimensional measure of polarization |
| topic | socioecological systems distribution systems governance policy analysis |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161283 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT moguestewodaj atwodimensionalmeasureofpolarization AT moguestewodaj twodimensionalmeasureofpolarization |