ABSTRACT
The extent to which party choices are structured by social divisions and the origins of these divisions, as well as change in their strength over time, is important for understanding the politics of contemporary democracies. The related but separate concepts of social and political cleavages are central to understanding how class and religion can inform political choice. Social cleavages refer to distinctions in social and political values held between different social groups such as social classes as well as ethnic and religious groups that may or may not be relevant as the basis of political competition and hence political choice. Characterizations of class position have included numerous occupational classifications, employment status, status rankings, income level, educational level, various combinations of education and income and occupation, and subjective class identification. Classic texts in political sociology saw elections as the expression of "the democratic class struggle" between just two classes, the working and the middle, and their representatives.
