What Do You Mean By Social Differences and how it creates social divisions in society

What do you mean by social differences? How do social differences create social division in society?

Ans. 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 pick one group of people against other. It means that group sharing a common interest on one issues are likely to be on different side on different issues. For example both Northern Ireland and the Netherland are predominantly Christian but are divided into Catholic and Protestant.

(3) The overlapping social differences create possibilities of deep social division and tensions while cross cutting differences are easier to accommodate.