Lipset and Rokkan suggest that there are three specific connotations to the term cleavage. First, a cleavage involves a social division that separates people along at least one key social characteristic such as occupation, status, religion or ethnicity. Second, groups involved in a cleavage must be conscious of their collective identity and be willing to act on that basis. Third, a cleavage must have an organizational component that gives formal institutional expression to the interests of those on one side of the division.