AP Comparative Government and Politics / Unit 3: Political Culture and Participation
3.8 Political and Social Cleavages
Notes
Cleavages are divisions that shape politics: ethnic, religious, regional, class, urban-rural.
- Cross-cutting cleavages (people share some identities but not others) can reduce conflict; coinciding cleavages can increase it.
Practice
In Nigeria, the north is mostly Muslim and Hausa-Fulani, the south mostly Christian. These are:
Divisions overlap.
Cross-cutting cleavages tend to:
Shared identities across groups.
A divide between city and rural voters is a(n):
Location-based.
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