Multiculturalism
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become increasingly fashionable, particularly in Europe, to claim that multiculturalism has somehow ‘gone too far’, or even ‘failed’. Such protestations have often been linked to the rise of populist nationalism, as discussed in Chapter 8. CORE THEMES The term ‘multiculturalism’ has been used in a variety of ways, both descriptive and normative. As a descriptive term, it refers to cultural diversity that arises from the existence within a society of two or more groups whose beliefs and practices generate a distinctive sense of collective identity. Multiculturalism, in this sense, is invariably reserved for communal diversity that arises from racial, ethnic and language differences. The term can also be used to describe governmental responses to such communal diversity, either in the form of public policy or in the design of institutions. Multicultural public policies, whether applied in education, health care, housing or other aspects of social policy, are characterized by a formal recognition of the distinctive needs of particular cultural groups and a desire to ensure equality of opportunity between and among them. Multicultural institutional design goes further than this by attempting to fashion the apparatus of government around the ethnic, religious and other divisions in society. In the form of consociationalism , it has shaped political practice in states such as the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium; it has also been applied in the form of ‘power sharing’ in Northern Ireland and in multilevel governance in post-conflict Bosnia-Herzegovina. As a normative term, multiculturalism implies a positive endorsement, even celebration, of communal diversity, typically based on either the right of different cultural groups to respect and recognition, or to the alleged benefits to the larger society of moral and cultural diversity. However, multiculturalism is more an ideological ‘space’ than a political ideology in itself. Instead of advancing a comprehensive world-view which maps out an economic, social and political vision of the ‘good society’, multiculturalism is, rather, an arena within which increasingly important debates about the balance in modern societies between cultural diversity and civic unity are conducted. Nevertheless, a distinctive multiculturalist ideological stance can be identified.The most significant themes withinmulticulturalism are: z z postcolonialism z z politics of recognition z z culture and identity z z minority rights z z togetherness in difference.
Postcolonialism The political and intellectual foundations of multiculturalism were laid by the postcolonial theories that developed out of the collapse of the European empires in the early post-World War II period. Postcolonialism originated as a trend in literary and cultural studies that sought to address the cultural conditions characteristic of newly-independent societies. Its purpose has been primarily to expose and overturn the cultural and psychological dimensions of colonial rule, recognizing that ‘inner’ subjugation can persist
Equality of opportunity: Equality defined in terms of life chances or the existence of a ‘level playing-field’. Consociationalism: A form of power sharing involving a close association among a number of parties or political formations, typically used in deeply divided societies.
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