Cleavages in the Context of Collective Mobilization

The article deals with the conception of cleavages and the prerequisites and/or possibilities for its application in the study of modern collective action. First, a brief history of the concept is introduced and some of its key later interpretations and elaborations are used to clarify the original theories of social divides and political conflicts, and to explore their structure, character and actors in more detail. On the grounds of these suggestions, the article reviews the cleavage “freezing” thesis and discusses the processes of transformation of modern cleavages, as well as the rise of “new politics” and “new social movements”. Finally, a model of cleavage hybridization is proposed in order to explain the character, political context and history of some major present-day social movements.