Problems of Multiculturalism

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses that the three works reviewed in this paper are all varying responses to the problems that multiculturalism, both in theory and in practice, has produced. The writer notes that, published all within the last decade, Tariq Modood's 'Is Multiculturalism Appropriate for the Twenty-First Century', Bhikhu Parekh's 'Rethinking Multiculturalism, Cultural Diversity and Political Theory', and Sasja Templeman's 'Constructions of Cultural Identity: Multiculturalism and Exclusion', address the fundamental question of what one means by multiculturalism, uncover both the explicit and implicit problems this essentially woolly doctrine embodies, and point to a more inclusive, refined and sophisticated way in which multiculturalism can be advocated as a political ideal. The writer concludes that ultimately, the writers of these works feel that multiculturalism, as it is understood and propagated today, is unsatisfactory as a doctrine of inclusion.

From the Paper:

"Much of the awkwardness arises, perhaps, less from the underdeveloped nature of multiculturalism than from the difficulties it presents to conventional political philosophy. Since traditional political theory believes in the universal validity of a good life, acceptance of multiculturalism necessarily presupposes a plurality of goods that would not be the same for everyone. By contrast to monists, who claimed to arrive at one true or rational way of understanding man and the world and the leading of the good life, pluralists, inspired initially by the German romantics, took a more relativist view of human nature that did not see one size fitting all. But the problem even with the romantic movement, which had been responsible for promoting the specificities of a nation, is that its basic assumption of cultural homogeneity within one nation has been cast into doubt by the variety of different cultural entities that co-exist in modern nations."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Parekh, Bhikhu, 'Introduction' in idem., Rethinking multiculturalism: cultural diversity and political theory (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2000), pp.1-15.
• Madood, Tariq, Multiculturalism: a civic idea (Cambridge: Polity Press 2007), pp.1-36.
• Tempelman, Sasja, 'Constructions of cultural identity: multiculturalism and Exclusion', Political Studies 47/1 (March 1999), pp. 17-31.

More papers on Problems of Multiculturalism:

• Term Paper # 116608 : "Problems in Multicultural Leadership"
• Essay # 84199 : "Multiculturalism"
• Book Review # 32780 : "Canadian Multiculturalism"

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