What do you mean by social differences? How do social differences create social division in society?
Social differences simply refer to born or biological and socially created inequalities in the society. This
mainly based on race, caste, religion, language, culture etc.
(1) When some social differences overlap with other differences. For example the difference between
black and white becomes a social division in the US because the Blacks tend to be poor.
(2) If social differences cross cut one another, it is difficult to pit one group of people against other. It
means that group sharing a common interest on one issue are likely to be on different side on
different issues. For example both Northern Island and the Netherlands are predominantly
Christian but are divided into Catholics and Protestants.
(3) The overlapping social differences create possibilities of deep social division and tensions while
cross cutting differences are easier to accommodate.
