Social division takes place under following circumstances.
(a) Social division due to overlapping differences. It happens when one kind of social difference becomes more important than the other and people start feeling that they belong to different communities. For example, the difference between the Blacks and Whites in the United States becomes a social division because the Blacks tend to be poor, homeless and discriminated against. Situation of this kind produces social divisions.
(b) Social division due to cross-cutting differences. If social differences cross-cut one another, it is difficult to compete one group of people against the other. It means that groups that share a common interest on one issue are likely to be on different sides on a different issue, thereby leading to a social division. For example, Northern Ireland is a dominantly Christian country but is divided between Catholics and Protestants. Here, class and religion overlap each other. If you are Catholic, you are more likely to be poor and discriminated against. The result is the division of the society.
(c) Social division of one kind or another exists in most countries. It does not matter whether the country is small or big. For instance, India is a vast country with many communities, at the same time, Belgium is a small country with many communities.
(d) Sometimes there is division or difference in society due to migration and migrants. Even those countries such as Germany and Sweden, that were once highly homogenous, are 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. If social divisions do not exist in a country they must never be expressed in politics. In a sense most countries of the world are multi-cultural and have multi-dimensional social divisions.
