Poverty and inequality across space: sociological reflections on the missing-middle subnational scale

The study of stratification is a foremost concern of sociologists. Historical engagement with this topic creates a distinct conceptual lens on poverty and inequality and a voluminous body of empirical work that set sociology apart from economics and to some degree, geography. At the same time, the discipline is limited in developing a spatial understanding of stratification processes. In this article, we put forth a critique of sociological research on poverty and other inequalities across space. We focus on a disciplinary impasse, the lack of a coherent, well-developed tradition at the subnational or regional scale. Drawing from research on the United States, we address how sociologists are making inroads against this impasse, in an emergent body of work.