Lipset and Rokkan's four cleavages
Lipset and Rokkan (1967) argued that two great transformations of modern European history created four cleavages. Nation-building produced the center–periphery cleavage between central and outlying regions and the state–church cleavage. The Industrial Revolution produced the rural–urban cleavage between agrarian and commercial-industrial interests and the owner–worker cleavage between capital and labor. Different party systems emerged depending on which cleavages were politicized and when. They also proposed the freezing hypothesis: party alignments established around the 1920s, when universal suffrage took hold, remained largely unchanged for decades.
Defining cleavages and dealignment
Bartolini and Mair (1990) argued that a social difference becomes a cleavage only when three elements are present: a social-structural base such as class or religion, shared values and identity within the group, and organizations such as parties or unions that represent it. From the 1970s, rising education and the waning influence of class and religion produced dealignment, as party support loosened from social groups. Inglehart (1971) argued that generations raised in affluence were shifting toward postmaterialist values emphasizing self-expression and participation over economic security, a basis for new parties such as the Greens.
New cleavages
Kriesi (1998) argued that a value cleavage led by an educated new middle class was replacing the class cleavage. Kriesi and colleagues (2006) identified a new cleavage between winners and losers of globalization, mobilized by radical right populist parties. Hooghe and Marks (2018) proposed a transnational cleavage over European integration and immigration. Ford and Jennings (2020) reviewed how education, age and the divide between big cities and other places are becoming new electoral dividing lines. Together with debates on cartel parties and declining party identification, these changes form a core framework for explaining party system change today.
FAQ
- What is cleavage theory in simple terms?
- Major social conflicts, such as workers versus owners, religious versus secular or capital versus provinces, determine which parties form and who supports them.
- What is the freezing hypothesis?
- Lipset and Rokkan's claim that the party alignments formed around the 1920s, when universal suffrage took hold, remained largely unchanged for decades afterward.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Lipset, S. M., & Rokkan, S. (1967). Cleavage structures, party systems, and voter alignments: An introduction. In S. M. Lipset & S. Rokkan (Eds.), Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives (pp. 1–64). New York: Free Press. The founding text with four cleavages and the freezing hypothesis.
- Inglehart, R. (1971). The silent revolution in Europe: Intergenerational change in post-industrial societies. American Political Science Review, 65(4), 991–1017. Introduces postmaterialist value change, a basis for new cleavages.
- Bartolini, S., & Mair, P. (1990). Identity, Competition, and Electoral Availability: The Stabilisation of European Electorates 1885–1985. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Defines a cleavage by structural, normative and organizational elements.
- Kriesi, H. (1998). The transformation of cleavage politics: The 1997 Stein Rokkan lecture. European Journal of Political Research, 33(2), 165–185. On the transformation of cleavage politics and the new middle class.
- Kriesi, H., Grande, E., Lachat, R., Dolezal, M., Bornschier, S., & Frey, T. (2006). Globalization and the transformation of the national political space: Six European countries compared. European Journal of Political Research, 45(6), 921–956. Evidence for a new winners–losers of globalization cleavage.
- Hooghe, L., & Marks, G. (2018). Cleavage theory meets Europe's crises: Lipset, Rokkan, and the transnational cleavage. Journal of European Public Policy, 25(1), 109–135. Proposes a transnational cleavage amid Europe's crises.
- Ford, R., & Jennings, W. (2020). The changing cleavage politics of Western Europe. Annual Review of Political Science, 23, 295–314. A recent review of education, age and geographic divides.