ABSTRACT
There is an important sociological difference between horizontal and vertical social structures. A society is horizontally structured if there is a variety of associations and institutions in which individual citizens group together in order to pursue their collective interests, and to realize their shared communal plans and motives in civic engagement. The presence of voluntary associations comes to mind, if one tries to conceptualize such a horizontally structured society. But societal horizontalism consists also of religious, educational, and leisure institutions generally the rich field of nongovernmental organizations, which are autonomous vis-à-vis the state, and manage to transcend individualism and particularism by binding people together in various collective activities of civic engagement. In fact, horizontalism is the major condition for the existence of a civic spirit and culture. Pillarization, or columnization, is the process by which society is divided vertically in terms of different religious and secular worldviews, facilitating the emergence of a plural society.
