Multiculturalism and Cultural Diversity: Core Concepts

Understanding Multiculturalism: Models and Approaches

Multiculturalism refers to the coexistence of diverse cultures within a society. Various models propose different ways to manage this diversity:

• Assimilation

  This model involves the "immersion" of migrants into a new culture, empowering them to adapt to their new society. Positively, it allows minorities to access the same resources as the autochthonous population. Negatively, it demands the "renunciation" of one's original culture, creating a dilemma of "conform or be excluded."

• Segregation

  In this view, cultural plurality leads to one culture being deemed superior, thereby assigned the direction on common issues affecting everyone. This often results in the separation or isolation of different cultural groups.

• Interactionism

  According to this approach, multiculturalism is organized not by one culture taking precedence over another, but by all cultures progressively integrating into a new, emergent culture. This new culture arises from the mixture or fusion of all contributing cultures.

• Liberal Pluralism

  Giovanni Sartori introduced this vision for managing multiculturalism. Liberal pluralists believe that political, religious, and moral diversity is inherently good, and the state should not repress it. They argue that the state cannot elevate any single culture as the best and should not impose cultural norms. Instead, citizens must be free to choose which culture they wish to maintain.

• Advocacy for Multiculturalism

  This focus emerged among multiculturalist intellectuals in the 1970s. For them, multiculturalism is so important, beautiful, and fertile that social and political powers should take responsibility to preserve and protect the cultural diversity of societies as much as possible.

Perspectives on Cultural Diversity

Different viewpoints shape how individuals and societies perceive and interact with cultural diversity:

• Ethnocentrism

  Ethnocentrism often entails the belief that one's own race or ethnic group is the most important, or that aspects of its culture are superior to others. Individuals judge other groups in relation to their own particular culture, especially concerning language and customs.

• Cultural Relativism

  As a reaction against ethnocentrism, cultural relativism asserts that all cultural systems are equally valid and cannot be judged as superior or inferior from the perspective of another culture. There are two main types:

  • Methodological Relativism: To understand a culture, one must study it from within its own context.
  • Systematic Relativism: Cultures are considered closed or incommensurable systems, meaning there are no universal criteria to compare the values of two different cultures.

• Racism

  Racism is a form of discrimination against people based on racial origin, skin tone, or other physical characteristics, leading to the belief that some individuals are superior to others. Racism is often closely associated with xenophobia, which is the "hatred, dislike, or hostility towards foreigners." However, there are differences: racism is an ideology of superiority, while xenophobia is primarily a feeling of rejection.