Society, Citizens, and State
Social Cleavages and
Political Participation
AP Comparative Government
Unit II
Social Cleavages
• The parties and party systems
which develop in various
countries are in part a reflection
of the history and social
cleavages operating in the
country and the electoral
system rules under which a
particular country operates.
• Taken all together, these
factors often shape the
dimensions of partisan conflict
in any country.
Social Cleavages
•
Arend Lijphart identifies 7 dimensions of
partisan conflict/social cleavages
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
Social Cleavages
•
Political scientist Arend Lijphart identifies
7 dimensions of partisan conflict/social
cleavages
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The socio-economic (SES)
Religious
Cultural-ethnic
Urban-rural
Regime support
Foreign policy
Post-materialism dimensions
Social Cleavages
• Other lists include:
– Education Level
– Class
– Gender
– Age
– Church-state power
division
– Values
– Region
– Ideas of government
• Cross-cutting
cleavages are those that
pull individuals into
different directions
• Polarizing cleavages
are those that pull
individuals in the same
direction
• Cleavages are the
reasons behind most of
the world’s conflicts
Social Cleavages
• Societies with few social cleavages tend
to have a relatively small number of
parties while countries with a large
number of cleavages generally tend to
have a large number of parties.
– FYI…Countries which have parliamentary
systems rather than presidential systems
also tend to have more parties.
Social Cleavages
• Lipset and Rokkan suggest that there are three
specific connotations to the term cleavage.
– First, a cleavage involves a social division that
separates people along at least one key social
characteristic such as occupation, status, religion or
ethnicity.
– Second, groups involved in a cleavage must be
conscious of their collective identity and be willing
to act on that basis.
– Third, a cleavage must have an organizational
component that gives formal institutional
expression to the interests of those on one side of the
division.
Social Cleavages in the U.S.
• What do you think are the major
cleavages which have affected or
currently affect American politics?
• Do current American political
parties reflect these cleavages?
• What cleavages affected the
development of American political
parties?
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
China
• Significant Social Cleavage- Ethnic Groups
– Apart from the main ethnic group of Han Chinese which
consists of 91% of the population there are 55 other
minority groups who also live in China.
• Most of these other minority groups reside on farms
and in the country while living the lives of peasants.
• While these peasants do not participate as much in
the political process, their support is still imperative,
as demonstrated by Mao during his Long March.
• The support of the peasants is important for internal
legitimacy, as these peasants comprise a huge
percentage of the population.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
China
• Significant Social Cleavage: Gender
• One of the first popular moves of the CCP was the New
Marriage Act which put husband and wife on equal footing
in a marriage.
– Instead of getting married in front of their elders, they got married in
front of a photo of Mao.
• During the Great Leap Forward women worked the farms
much the same as men.
• However, many of the old Confucian gender roles still have
a presence in China, the female birthrate still lags
behind the male birthrate, and sons are more valued than
daughters.
– These beliefs have resulted in selective abortions and infanticide.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
China
• (New) Social Cleavage: Wealth
• Experts say the phenomenon of showing off wealth is a complex
one, rooted in China’s long struggles with poverty and famine, and a
sense that expensive possessions confer a higher social status.
– “Showing off wealth shows that China’s economic development
has not been long, and Chinese society’s psychology of
consumption is still not mature,” said Hu Xingdou, an economics
professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology. “In China, wealth
is the only criteria to measure social status. People hope to show
they have a higher social status by wearing luxurious brands.”…
– Example: a millionaire in Shanxi province caused a stir, and
became the subject of a video that went viral, after a guard at a
Qing Dynasty tomb site told him that the underground tombs
were closed to the public. The millionaire began throwing cash at
the guard’s feet, demanding to go inside and claiming he had
enough money to buy the ancient tombs...
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Nigeria
• Significant Social Cleavages- Region,
Religion, Ethnicity
• Nigeria is the most populous African country
with 130 million people and 250 ethnic groups
• 2/3 Nigerians live in rural areas with a feudallike system of patron-client relationships
• Many social cleavages originate in the colonial
era with the British dividing people into artificial
“tribes” who couldn’t unite cohesively in the
post-colonial era
– “Ethnicity trumps citizenship, religion trumps
ethnicity, power trumps religion”
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Nigeria
• Social Cleavages- Region, Religion, Ethnicity
• The North
– Mostly Muslim (50%), ethnically Hausa-Fulani (29%)
– Approximately half the population lives in the North
– Poor but politically united and has produced many
military leaders,
– Distrusts westernization and globalization
– The strong Muslim population has illegally instituted
Sharia’ah (Islamic) law
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Nigeria
• Social Cleavages- Region, Religion,
Ethnicity
• The South
– Mostly Christians (40%), ethnically Yoruba
(west, 21%) and Igbo (east, 18%)
– Fertile and oil rich, the South dominates the civil
service bureaucracy
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Nigeria
• Significant Social Cleavage- Gender
– Women play a minimal role in politics and
female candidates are not looked on
favorably, although the 1979 Constitution
guaranteed their rights.
– In pre-colonial Nigeria, women had a much
larger position in politics.
Women at a Nigerian
traditional coronation
ceremony.
Nigeria's female national
football team, the Super
Falcons, who
rejoice at their victory over
Ghana winning the
African Women's
Championships in 2009
Girls in Kano, Nigeria, attend a
hybrid school that combines
Islamic education with secular
subjects like math and reading
The wardrobes of some Women
Northern in Nigeria are like a
textile factory with modern colorful
designs, in sets for different
occasions.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Great Britain
• Social Cleavages- Ethnicity
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Great Britain
• Social Cleavages- SES/Social Class
• The British Class system is perpetuated by the
British educational system
– Public schools (called private schools in the U.S. )
• Social elites who often go to Eton for secondary
school and then Oxford and Cambridge (which has
graduated 1/2 of Conservative MPS), and trains
mainly for public service
– Grammar schools (Called public school in the U.S. )
• middle-lower classes, 25% of Britons plan on
attending college
Social Class Differences- 1937
• Peter Wagner (14) and Thomas Dyson (15) both pupils at
the very exclusive prep school Harrow pupils make their
way to their cricket match against arch-rival school Eton.
• The other three boys, were recruited by a photographer to
come over and stand for a picture.
• Nobody could be in any doubt of the story being told:
– England was still hopelessly divided by class.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Great Britain
• Significant Social Cleavage: SES/Social
Status
• The roots of the Conservative Party lie in
the nobility.
– Originally it was an elitist organization
– However, during the latter party of 20th
century the members of the Conservative
Party took on the responsibility of helping the
poor, supporting a welfare state where a
primary goal of the government was to keep
the economy healthy.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Great Britain
• Social Cleavages- Gender
• No significant gender gap in voting;
young women vote the least and so
politicians often try to win the female vote
• "Blair's Babes": large number of female Labour
MPs elected in 1997
Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
“The Iron Lady”
1913 Derby
Death of British Suffragette
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Russia
• Significant Social Cleavage- Ethnic
Groups
– 79.83% Russian
– 3.83% Tatars
– 2.03% Ukrainians
– 1.15% Bashkirs
– 1.13% Chuvashs
– 0.94% Chechens
– 0.78% Armenians
Where Russians Live
• A Russian woman nowadays can expect to have more abortions
than births over the course of her child-bearing years.
– In 1988, at the end of the Soviet era, Russian women underwent an
officially tabulated 4.6 million abortions--two for every live birth.
– In 2002, the country officially reported 1.7 million abortions--over 120
for every 100 live births.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Russia
• Significant Social Cleavage: Gender
• Although the Soviet Union collapsed 18 years
ago, women's rights have not made great
progress in what is now Russia.
– Repeatedly on the list of organizations which tally
human rights violations across the world, Russia is
known to still stifle and oppress their female citizenry
• The principle of equal pay for equal work is in
the Russian Constitution but men prevail in
leading positions and dominate among well paid
experts, so men's average wage is higher than
women's and it seems to increase even more
with time.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Mexico
• Significant Social Cleavage: Ethnicity which has
led to deep and long-lasting political divisions.
– The main ethnic division is between
mestizos and indigenous people.
• The indigenous people tend to live in rural
areas and poverty.
Mexico's Ethnic Groups
Other
1%
Pure White
9%
Pure
Amerindian
30%
60%
Mestizo
60%
60% Mestizo
Pure Amerindian
Pure White
Other
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Mexico
• Significant Social Cleavages- Region
– There is a division between the north and
the south as well as between Mexico City
and the rest of the country.
– Because of this South-North division that
causes economic inequalities, illegal
immigration from southern Mexicans into the
United States across the border is heavily
rampant.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Mexico
• Significant Social Cleavages- Region
• The North
– More wealthy and industrialized
• Market forces have transformed the North to include shopping
malls, and cultural landscapes that resemble industrialized
countries.
• This is partly due to industries and manufacturing plants
owned by foreign corporations that construct plants to take
advantage of cheap labor- maquilladoras
• The South
– The economy is much more stagnant
– The South is poorer and more rural
• Much of the lower GDP/capita in Mexico is found in the south
where there is a lack of ethnic diversity
Population Breakdown in Major Cities
Native American- Red
European- Blue
West African- Yellow
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Mexico
• Significant Social Cleavages- SES/Class
– Due to the great economic equality in Mexico,
there are numerous class cleavages.
• Although under the PRI peasants and members of the urban
working class were able to move up, economic inequality
worsened.
• Mexico has a very unequal distribution of wealth, even
compared to other Latin American countries. With the
introduction of neoliberal economic policies, inequalities have
sharpened.
• In 1998, the top 20 percent of income earners accounted for
55 percent of Mexico's income, while an estimated 27 percent
of the population was living below the poverty line. The size of
the middle classes has shrunk in recent years.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Mexico
• Significant Social Cleavages- SES/Class
– Mexico has a very unequal distribution of
wealth, even compared to other Latin
American countries. With the introduction of
new economic policies, inequalities have
sharpened.
– In 1998, the top 20 percent of income earners
accounted for 55 percent of Mexico's income,
while an estimated 27 percent of the
population was living below the poverty line.
The size of the middle classes has shrunk in
recent years.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Mexico
• Significant Social Cleavages- Gender
• The women's movement in 1960-1970 was mainly
inspired by the feminist groups in the U.S.
– At first, only the wealthy, more educated women
participated in this movement
– The movement has become less elitist and given
way to "popular feminism", where poor and
middleclass women began to take part in the
movement.
• The main catalyst was a UN sponsored conference in
Mexico City that celebrated International Women's
Year.
– This brought attention to the blatant inequalities
between men and women in Mexico.
• Now, the economic changes of past has given women
more economic opportunities.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Iran
• Significant Social Cleavages: Ethnic Groups
and Language
– Persians are largest ethnic group (68%)
– Ethnic minorities live on the geographic and political
power periphery
• Violent uprisings in the 1980s by Arabs, Balochis,
Kurds, and Turks were put down and now don’t
threaten political stability
– Language
• Persian is the language of the political and literary
elite, but has never replaced local languages with
their local grammar and speech
• Campaigns to use Persian as part of a national
identity have alienated ethnic minorities
Iranian Ethnic Groups
Other
12%
Kurds
9%
Persian
Gilakis and Mazandaranis
Gilakis and
Mazandaranis
11%
Kurds
Persian
68%
Other
More than two-thirds of the population is under the age of
30, one quarter being 15 years of age or younger.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Iran
• Significant Social Cleavages- Class/SES
• Peasantry and urban lower-middle class
– strongly religious orthodox, have benefited from the
patronage of the government but still discontent
because of the poor economy
• Middle class
– hang onto their “cultural capital” (general background of
knowledge, disposition, and skills passed through
generations)
– strongest opponents to the regime
– culturally westernized, more secular, hostile to clergy
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Iran
• Significant Social Cleavages- Gender
– Gender complementarily, or “equality-withdifference”
• Pre-1979 westernization, such as divorce and
custody laws, restriction of women’s clothing and
women’s freedom to leave the country, have
been changed to follow Islamic law and are
much more restrictive
– Women now are in schools at the same rate
as men
• Women are now 1/3 of the medical students
• 4% of the national legislature
• A few have joined the clergy
Baton-wielding female police officers helped to
break up the June 12, 2009 gathering
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Iran
• Significant Social Cleavage: Age
– The demographics of Iran have favored the young,
urbanized, and educated
– Iranian youths have become more liberal than Iran as a
whole, and have embraced western culture and
western style media
• There can be no criticism of Ayatollah Khomeini or
Islamic doctrines or matters of “national security”
• There is a strong print media business which deals
with sports, economics, etc, as well as exposing
social ills or foreign policy blunders
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Iran
• Significant Social Cleavage: Religion
– Only members of Islam are allowed to
participate because Iran is a theocracy.
– Thus, members of minority religions such
as Christianity, and Judaism are generally
denied the right to hold public office
although they are given token seats in the
legislature.
Citizen, Society, and State
Political Participation
Patron-client Networks
• Patron-client networks are vertical
systems in which the client of one patron
may prove to be a patron to a
subordinate client, thus forming a ladder
network.
• The type of patron-client network
determines the types of rights
exchanged through corruption and
the terms of these exchanges.
• Such an examination helps to explain
why in some countries corruption has
attended rapid growth while in others it
has implied transfers which are very
damaging for growth
Same Song, Different Tune…
• Prebendelism in Nigeria
– Very much prevalent in the social and political fabric of Nigeria. In fact,
this corruption is so stubbornly ingrained within the societies of Nigeria
that little has been done to end the corruption.
• Camarilla in Mexico
– A politician’s personal following; a group of individuals with a common
political interest.
• Guānxi in China
– Describes the basic dynamic in the complex nature of personalized
networks of influence and social relationships, and is a central concept in
Chinese society
• Nomenklatura in Russia
– A small, elite subset of the general population in the Soviet Union and
other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions
in all spheres of those countries' activity: government, industry,
agriculture, education, etc.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
China
• Political Participation
– The development of political elites has for the most
part been through membership in the Communist
Party and/or being in good favor with the CCP.
• Only recently have business leaders become
political elites due to the increasing importance
of the economy in China.
– This development is surprising because the
communist system discourages business elites.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
China
• Status of Efficacy
– Generally is low due to corruption and lack of
freedom to vote freely
– The transition of power to private enterprises
could increase efficacy.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
China
• Role of Interest Groups and Cleavages in China
• The government allows for certain interest groups to
exist, such a the Communist Youth League, the All China
Federal Trade Union, and the All China Women's
Federation.
– These interest groups exist to strengthen the power of the
Communist party and serve as channels for the Communist
Party.
• In recent years, notably April 1999, when the Falun
Gong organized in the streets of China, the government
began to fear for its control over society, and banned the
movement.
– The Chinese Government claimed that the Falun Gong
movement was "a serious ideological and political struggle that
would have a bearing on the future of the Communist Party and
the State" and thus banned the group.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Nigeria
• Political Participation
• The Nigerian view of participating in government is
generally limited to voting
– There is universal suffrage, except in the Muslim north where
women can’t vote
• However, efficacy is extremely low.
– Election fraud is so rampant in Nigeria that sometimes districtby-district election results are not even published because they
would not be believed.
– Sometimes the ballots distributed to voting centers are already
filled out -- that is, if the ballots are distributed at all.
– Other times, region-based political parties have suddenly
"found" hundreds of people living in their region, in order to give
themselves more representation.
A Nigerian poll worker counts ballots from the country’s 2007 state and local
elections. In addition to the complications of public voting, there were frequent
incidents of underage voting, voter registration list errors, stuffed ballot boxes, lack
of results sheets and other materials, falsified results sheets, and early closings
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Nigeria
• Patron-client relationships/Prebendelism
• “Dependence on mutually beneficial hierarchal
systems which prevent actual participation by
people not in the system”.
– The frequent switching between military rule
and attempts at republics prevented the
creation of national, cross-ethnic/religious
political parties, so the people have little
chance to participate.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Great Britain
• Political Participation
• The English, though having higher voter turn outs than
we do, are generally considered to have less political
efficacy than Americans, partially because the
government is more sequestered amongst the elites and
there is no significant local government, although this is
beginning to change.
• Also, elections are only held every five years in Britain,
so although there is a larger voter turnout than in the
U.S., British citizens are still not able to get involved
in elections as often as American citizens.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Great Britain
• Interest Groups (AKA…Pressure groups)
–
– There are hundreds of interest
groups in Great
Britain.
• However, there is little lobbying done by
them (unlike those in the US).
– The fewer interest groups with a direct influence
on the law making process has lead to a
corporatist system
– Interest groups try to maintain good
relationships with members of the House of
Commons, especially with party leaders and
ministers
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Russia
• Political Participation
• Status of Efficacy: A recurring pattern in Russian
efficacy is that it is much lower in comparison to other
post-communist countries.
• The reason for this is that Russian political efficacy has been
impaired by the repressive nature of Tsarist and communist
regimes.
– However, Russians do have some sense of internal
efficacy that is dependent on their attitudes towards
government incumbents and the current economic
condition.
– Currently efficacy is not very high because of Putin's
powerful influence and the centralization of the
government.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Russia
• Role of Interest Groups
• The interest groups in Russia tend to be
weaker and less independent of the State.
• If anything, the regime has mounted many
obstacles that make it harder for interest groups to
mobilize and attempt to exert some form of
influence.
• Also, low rates of involvement in interest groups
hint that there is a sense of alienation for many of
these groups.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Russia
• Political Participation
• Prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the
government created pro-communist interest groups
as a part of patron-client relationships which
was known as the Nomenklatura
• After the USSR’s fall, as more interest groups
opposed to the government attempted to be
formed, the regime constricted their formation and
their influence.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Mexico
• Political Participation
• Development of political elites
– For years the government was only run
through the political elites, working their
way up the hierarchy of the PRI.
• The next president was generally decided upon by
"el dadazo" or "the tap“ of the current president.
– However, starting in 2000 more people had
political access and voted out the PRI
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Mexico
• Role of Interest Groups
– For years under the PRI, the Mexican
government used corporatism to further its
power
– Interest groups gained power because of the
camerilla
– However, with the fall of the PRI in the 1990’s
involvement in those groups has dropped in
importance.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Iran
• Political Participation
– Students have factored into every Iranian revolution,
and students who have studied in the West tend to
bring to Iran western culture
• The youth are to be reckoned with because of the voting age
being at 16 years old
• Women have demanded more educational and job
opportunities as the average family size decreases, which is
likely to turn into more political participation
– Status of Efficacy
• Elections are present but civil liberties are limited which
lowers efficacy.
• Reformists are under-represented in politics because the
Guardian Council (appointed by religious Supreme Leader)
has final say over candidates allowed to run in elections, and
has been disqualifying reformist candidates.
• This gives reformists a lower sense of political efficacy in Iran,
and many have boycotted elections.
CITIZENS AND SOCIETY
Iran
• Role of Interest Groups
– The main form of political participation remains
to be rallies and petitions.
– It does not possess a sophisticated enough
system to support either interest group
structure.
– Iran cannot be classified as either corporatist
or pluralist.
Sources
• Democracies:
Patterns of
Majoritarian and
Consensus
Government in
Twenty-One
Countries,
• http://apcomparativ
e.wikispaces.com/
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