10: Evolving Social Cleavages

Question 1

historical social cleavages

Answer 1

urban-rural cleavage

• comes down to a difference in class
• idea that cities give a legal status

confessional cleavage
- historically, protestants and catholics

secular-clerical cleavage

• fundamental question of whether the church has authority over the state or vice versa
• always in Europe with conflicts between the pope and the king

class cleavage

• different economic inequalities that exist within the population which result in different economic interests
• different measures of inequality do not go together - consumption inequality is lower than income equality which is lower than wealth inequality
• result of a difference in economic interests because of different levels of income, wealth, etc. but very complicated

ethnic and linguistic cleavages

• different regional languages, etc.
• linguistic cleavages in France

post-materialist cleavage
- classic cleavages about how people can access economic goods whereas now, people are reasonably well-off so these cleavages are not directly tied to economic things

Question 2

definition of crosscutting cleavages

Answer 2

when cleavages cut across each other, this can lessen the presence of conflict across groups

disagreements produced by one division can produce cross-pressures for individuals and mitigate the divisions they may experience by way of another cleavage

Question 3

definition of reinforcing cleavages

Answer 3

when cleavages overlap with each other, this can heighten the conflict and be more divisive

disagreements produced by one division (e.g. class), will reinforce the divisions produced by another (e.g. race)

Question 4

3 accounts of the second dimension of political conflict

Answer 4

first dimension thought of being class (poor vs rich)
emergence of a new dimension of political conflict

1. materialists vs post materialists
   - we all have a hierarchy of needs
   - as generations get richer, basic needs are satisfied so generations now are post-materialist and do not care so much about economic needs since fundamental economic needs are met
2. winners vs losers of globalisation (economic in nature)
   - social groups who benefit from and embrace economic integration versus those that gain little from globalisation and are exposed to new economic risks
3. green-alternative-liberal vs traditional-authoritarian-nationalist
   - largely driven by European integration and not globalisation
   - argument that European integration has polarised societies
   - highly educated/young/migrants/residents of big cities embrace integration that serves their interests while low-skilled/old/cultural traditionalists resist integration as something threatening to traditional identity and economic security

Question 5

5 changes to social structure and how they create conditions for new dimensions of political conflict

Answer 5

1. expansion of higher education and the emergence of graduates as a distinctive electorate
   - doubling of university graduates in recent decades with different worldview
   - mass higher education generates an electoral base for socially liberal and pro-EU parties across western Europe
2. mass immigration and the emergence of electorally significant ethnic minority communities
   - substantial increases in ethnic diversity driven by mass migration leading to a liberalisation of citizenship rules and increasing naturalisation
   - migrants/ethnic minorities gravitate towards centre-left with some exceptions
3. reactions of socially conservative white voters with the lowest levels of formal education to demographic decline and political marginalisation
   - high proportion of native white voters which leave the education system with low or no levels of qualification who are today the core electorate of radical right parties
4. unprecedented growth in the size of older cohorts of the electorate thanks to increases in life expectancy
   - becoming the most important group of voters in society with a greater propensity to turn out to vote
   - voters gravitate towards the political right as they move into age with the biggest shift being having children
   - face a different set of challenges since they have relative insulation from economic shocks, are more likely to hold assets, are not exposed to future costs like climate change, reliant on the state for benefits, significant generational differences, etc.
   - retirement age and life expectancies are generally mismatched so people who have to work pay more for these people and for longer periods of time
5. emergence of geographical cleavages reflecting the increased segregation of voters into cosmopolitan cities and conservative hinterlands
   - increasing percentage of populations living in cities
   - economic agglomeration shaping a geographical cleavage due to polarisation in the mixes of people living in different areas
   - megacities attract younger skilled populations and migrants due to opportunities for education, employment and cultural consumption
   - rural areas are experiencing rapid population ageing combined with outflows of economic activity and people
   - divide essentially is also an age divide