Chapter 3: Nations and Society

Cross-cutting cleavages

Cross-cutting cleavages

occur when two cleavages do not align with each other in a way that reinforces the divide between the two sides.

Ethnicity

is a concept commonly misunderstood by many students, often inappropriately conflated with related concepts such as race, national identity, or citizenship.

Nations

do share one or more common political aspirations, and may or may not be unified based on a shared ethnicity.

Nationality

requires a belief in a shared political goal for ones people.

Centrifugal

forces, which are the forces that divide and polarize the people of a state.

Centripetal force

unifies, or brings people of the state together to enhance stability and legitimacy of the state.

Modernization

Only a little over two centuries ago, the world was deeply divided into small societies that rarely interacted other than to go to war with each other.

Citizenship

requires specific benefits or privileges given by the state.

Globalization

Technology, information flow, finance, trade policy, and environmental concerns have brought the world together in extraordinary ways over the last few decades.

Elections

are now the most common method for a state to choose political leadership.

Political attitude

refers to how people feel about the pace with which political change should occur.

Ideology

can be classified along a very extensive continuum of political preferences, but large themes have developed that can be used to produce five distinct general groups.

Cleavages

divide groups in society against one another because of conflicting political goals.

Nationalism

refers to a sense of pride in the nation of people and a belief that they can achieve their political destiny.

Owner vs. worker

A class cleavage based on who owns the means of production and capital, versus those who collect wages in employment for the owners

Church vs. state

This conflict refers to individuals for whom religious values are a high priority versus those who are more secular in their thinking and do not wish for religious values to influence policymaking

Urban vs. rural

Also referred to as "center versus periphery," this conflict emerges based on whether people reside in the "center" urban areas where most elites are operating to progressively shape changes in culture, versus those who live in the rural "periphery" where they may tend to be more resistant to societal changes coming from the cities

Land vs. industry

On one side of this conflict is the states exercise of control over trade and tariffs in order to protect domestic business and workers

Radicals

Radicals prefer rapid, dramatic, and revolutionary change

Liberals

would like to make progressive changes to the system, but they want to do so through evolutionary reforms rather than through rapid revolution

Conservatives

are generally more satisfied with the status quo than not, and view proposed changes to institutions with skepticism and caution

Liberalism

In terms of political ideology, liberals prioritize economic and personal freedom as central goals of a political system

Communism

Communists believe that true freedom comes in the form of economic equality, and that the massive economic inequality that comes with economic freedom only results in freedom for those in the property-owning class

social democracy

Social democrats, sometimes called socialists for short, strongly emphasize basic economic equality as a core value, but they reject the strict state control that comes with communism

fascism

Fascists reject the notions of equality and freedom altogether, believing that people, social groups, classes, ethnicities, etc

anarchism

Anarchists reject the idea that the state can be an instrument of helping people achieve equality and freedom, and that the only way to realize both is to abolish the state altogether

Globalization

Technology, information flow, finance, trade policy, and environmental concerns have brought the world together in extraordinary ways over the last few decades

Modernization

Only a little over two centuries ago, the world was deeply divided into small societies that rarely interacted other than to go to war with each other

Democratization

There was an explosion in the number of democratic political regimes that emerged in the world in the late twentieth century, particularly after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe

Coinciding cleavages

also called reinforcing cleavages, meanwhile, can deeply divide a society to the point where it can no longer remain stable and unified.

Radicals

Radicals prefer rapid, dramatic, and revolutionary change.