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Pillarisation (Verzuiling in Dutch, Pilarisation in French) is a term used to describe the way the Dutch and Belgians used to deal with their multicultural (but not multiethnic) societies. Society was "vertically" divided in several smaller segments or "pillars" according to different religions or ideologies, which operated separately from each other. Austrian and Maltese societies were other examples of this phenomenon.
These pillars all had their own social institutions: their own newspapers, broadcasting organisations, political parties, trade unions, schools, hospitals, building societies, universities, scouting organisations and sports clubs. Some companies even only hired personnel of a specific religion or ideology. This led to a situation where many people had no personal contact with people from another pillar.