Existing methods for quantifying polarization in social networks typically report a single value describing the amount of polarization in a social system. While this approach can be used to confirm the observation that many societies have witnessed an increase in political polarization in recent years, it misses the complexities that could be used to understand the reasons behind this phenomenon. Notably, opposing groups can have unequal impact on polarization, and the elites are often understood to be more divided than the masses, making it critical to differentiate their roles in polarized systems. We propose a method to characterize these distinct hierarchies in polarized networks, enabling separate polarization measurements for these groups within a single social system. Applied to polarized topics in the Finnish Twittersphere surrounding the 2019 and 2023 parliamentary elections, our analysis reveals valuable insights: 1) The impact of opposing groups on observed polarization is rarely balanced, and 2) while the elite strongly contributes to structural polarization and consistently display greater alignment across various topics, the masses have also recently experienced a surge in issue alignment, a special form of polarization. Our findings suggest that the masses may not be as immune to an increasingly polarized environment as previously thought.

翻译：现有的社交网络极化量化方法通常报告单一数值来描述社会系统中的极化程度。虽然这种方法可用于证实许多社会近年来政治极化加剧的观测，但它忽略了可用于理解该现象背后原因的复杂性。值得注意的是，对立群体对极化的影响可能并不均衡，且精英阶层通常被认为比大众更为分化，这使得区分他们在极化系统中的角色至关重要。我们提出了一种表征极化网络中这些不同层级结构的方法，能够在单一社会系统内对群体进行独立的极化测量。将该方法应用于芬兰推特圈围绕2019年和2023年议会选举的极化议题分析，我们获得了以下重要发现：1）对立群体对观测极化的影响很少处于平衡状态；2）虽然精英阶层对结构极化贡献显著，且在不同议题间始终表现出更高的一致性，但大众群体近期在议题对齐（极化的一种特殊形式）方面也出现了激增。我们的研究结果表明，大众群体可能并不像先前认为的那样对日益极化的环境具有免疫力。