Explain how cross cutting differences are easier to accommodate in a democracy than over-lapping differences in the society. Explain with examples.
Answers
Let’s take an example: black people in the United States have a greater poverty rate than the population as a whole. That is an overlapping difference: people who are black are different from the mainstream not only in being black, but also being poor. White poor people, on the other hand, are only different from the mainstream in being poor. Thus, white skin is a cross-cutting difference. Raise a poor white person’s income, and they are now in the mainstream of society; raise a poor black person’s income, and they are still black, and, so, still face whatever extra problems black people face.
This is why poor white people vote more for Republicans than poor black people do: they can see themselves as aligned with the richer white people in the Republican Party, and they see their problems as being pretty much purely economic, and, so, aren’t attracted to the social justice positions of Democrats. In fact, they see the social justice positions of Democrats as a disadvantage, since they are aimed at reducing or eliminating the social and economic advantages that poor whites (really whites in general) have over poor blacks.
The changes required for society to raise poor white people involve economics and education, and, thus are relatively easier to accomplish; the changes required to raise poor black people are more systematic, and require efforts over time to eliminate discrimination as well as the long-term effects of past discrimination. That requires complex and controversial measures like affirmative action. The power structure in the country uses this conflict to manipulate poor whites into opposing things like spending for education, essentially leveraging the tension caused by the differences between poor whites and poor blacks to eliminate even things aimed at helping poor whites by convincing them that their best interests are the same as rich whites.