NOTE: In exploring societal cleavages here, we are looking for politically relevant distinctions & experiences associated with different interests, values, &/or policy concerns
I. Socioeconomic Status (SES)
SES can unite some & divide others
economic resources influence individual political wants (and one’s ability to pursue them)
economic class can provide a dividing line regarding thoughts about use of public authority in labor v. management disputes (and public policy more generally)
shared social position can motivate people to organize politically to retain (or to attack) any associated privileges
II. Region
A common subnational region can unite residents to mobilize
to protect regional traditions
to extract additional financial resources from the national government
to gain greater political autonomy from the central government
EXAMPLES?
III. Ethnicity
A. Members of ethnic groups can develop a shared identity based on:
common (presumed) racial ancestry
common place of residence
common language
common customs & practices
B. As we will discuss shortly, ethnicity becomes more powerful when members of certain ethnic groups are additionally united by a common position on other cleavages:
socioeconomic status, region, religion, ideology, etc.
IV. Religion
A. Religion as a potentially all-encompassing belief system
divine authority superior to all others in all realms
by extension, deviation from those norms is heretical: