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Essay on Social Polarisation

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With reference to specific examples, critically discuss the contention that cities are becoming increasingly polarised in the contemporary world.

Polarisation is a term that usually refers to ‘extreme of two extreme situations’. In this context, social polarisation is examined in detail. Social polarisation is an expression associated with the segregation within a society that may emerge from income inequality, real-estate fluctuations, economic displacements etc. and result in such differentiation that would consist of various social groups, from high-income to low-income (Moulaert, F. et al. (2003)). This essay will outline the two contrasting opinions that Sassen and Hamnett hold of the polarization thesis in the contemporary …show more content…

In addition, there was a decline in middle-income, blue-collar jobs of the manufacturing sector. It can be argued that however, the growth of employment in the ‘clerks’ and ‘service workers and shop and market sales workers’ (see table 1) contradicts the theory. This occupational group mainly consists of middle-income occupation and their growth made up for the loss of those in the middle-income manufacturing sector. It can be concluded that although Cape Town has seen a marginally polarizing employment growth (Borel-Saladin, Crankshaw, 2009; 658) in the past twenty years, it has not seen an absolute decline in middle-income employment and therefore does not agree with the social polarizing thesis.
Table 1
Sydney, Australia is the second case-study this essay will discuss, many of the scholars who analysed the social polarization thesis only looked at cities within the US or Europe, although helpful it can limit empirical discussion (Baum, 1997; 1882). Therefore looking at a global city out of this zone that also has strong economic links with Hong Kong and Singapore will allow the reader to understand the contention of polarisation in the contemporary world. It can be argued that professionalization is occurring, the growth of professionals make up

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