SOCIAL CLEAVAGES IN THE AMERICAN SOCIETY AS A FACTOR OF 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

Abstract

Current article is dedicated to analysis of social cleavages in the American elections and the ways they influenced on presidential election in 2016. Originally developed by S. Rokkan and S.M. Lipset, social cleavages became a classic theme for contemporary political sociology. However, despite the fact that the theory has been developing primarily by Americans, it has been rarely used to analyze electoral system in the USA. Traditionally it’s been aimed at European and developing countries where electoral fragmentation is seen more clearly. But recent changes in the American society and the political system demonstrate the emergence of social cleavages that had not been inherent before. The article shows how American electoral space transformed since the 1980s and how it became more fragmented under the influence of social, economic and ideological factors. Elections in 2016 became a watershed for social cleavages that accumulated through time and aggravated even more considering internal crises in the Democratic and more so in the Republican parties. Donald Trump’s victory is an impersonation of the American party system crisis and of the mainstream politicians’ inability to find proper explanation of the changing electorate. Author shows that American society today is polarized even more than many European countries while group identification determines vectors of political change.