Democratic Politics


Chapter : 3. Democracy & Diversity

Overlapping and Cross-cutting Differences

Overlapping and Cross-cutting Differences :
Social division takes place when some social differences overlaps with the differences.
Eg (a) The difference between the black and white becomes a social division in the US because the Black tend to be poor, homeless and discriminated against.
(b) In our country Dalits tend to be poor and landless. They often face discrimination and injustice.
When social differences cross out one another, it is difficult to pit one group of people against the other.
Eg. The cases of Northern Ireland and the Netherlands. Both are predominantly Christian but divided between Catholics and Protestants. In Northern Ireland. If we are catholic, we are also more likely to be poor. In the Netherlands. class and religion tend to cut across each other. Catholics and Protestants are equally likely to be poor or rich. The result is that Catholics and Protestants have had conflicts in Northern Ireland, while they do not do so in the Netherlands.
(a) Cross-cutting difference happens when one type of social difference is weakened by another set of social difference. Then it becomes difficult to group people into a single category because they are going to have different opinions and views on different matters. On some matters there might be agreement on a particular issue and on some matters there might be disagreement on another issue.
(b) Social division of one kind or another exists in most countries. Germany and Sweden, were once highly HOMOGENEOUS, are now undergoing rapid change with influx of people from other parts of the world. MIGRANTS bring with them their own culture and tend to form a different social community. In this sense most countries of the world are multi-cultural.
(c) The combination of politics and social division may be dangerous and explosive. Democracy involves competition among various political parties. If they start compelling in terms of some existing social divisions, it can make social division into political divisions and lead to conflict, violence or even disintegration of a country.

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