What is

Multiculturalism?

ProfessorGregoryJay,UniversityofWisconsinMilwaukee
gjay@uwm.edu[revisedJuly2011]

1.Whodidwelearnaboutinschooltoday?
Like most words, "multiculturalism" needs to be understood from both an historical and a
conceptual perspective. Historically, "multiculturalism" came into wide public use in the West
duringtheearly1980sinthecontextofpublicschoolcurriculumreform.Specifically,
proponentsarguedthatthecontentofclassesinhistory,literature,socialstudies,and
otherareasreflectedwhatcametobecalleda"Eurocentric"andmalebias.Fewifany
womenorpeople of color, orpeoplefromoutsidethe WesternEuropeantradition,
appearedprominentlyinthecurriculumsofschoolsandcollegesintheUnitedStates.
This material absence was also interpreted as a value judgment that reinforced
unhealthysexist,ethnocentricandevenracistattitudes.
Observersnotedthatteachingandadministrativestaffsinschoolswerealsooverwhelminglywhite
and/ormale(whitenessbeingpervasiveattheteachinglevel,malenessattheadministrativelevel,
reflecting the politics of gender andclass as well as race in the educational system). Eventually
parallelquestionswereraisedabouttheethnoracialorculturalbiasesofotherinstitutions,suchas
legislatures, government agencies, corporations, religiousgroups, privateclubs, etc. Eachofthese
hasinturndevelopeditsownresponseandpoliciesregardingdiversityandmulticulturalism.
Multiculturalismalsoisdirectlyrelatedtoglobalshiftsofpower, population,andcultureintheera
of globalizationand"postcolonialism,"asnationsaroundtheworldestablishindependenceinthe
wake of thedecline of Western empires (whether European, Soviet, or American). Globalization
transforms previouslyhomogeneouscitiesorregionsinto complexmeeting grounds fordifferent
ethnic, racial, religious, and national groups, challenging the political and cultural system to
accommodate this diversity. Many of the previously homogeneous nationstates of Europe then
experiencedaninfluxofimmigrationbypeopleofcoloranddifferentculturalandreligiousbeliefs
fromtheareasthosenationshadonceruledascolonies.Thechildrenofthesenewimmigrants,like
thosebeforethem,presentedfreshquestionstoteacherswhowereunfamiliarwiththeirlanguages,

beliefsystems, customs, andways oflife. How thesechildrenwere to beeducated, andhow the

curriculumwastobereformedtomeettheirneeds,becamemattersofcontinueddebate.
Finally,"multiculturalism"mayalso havebecomeapopulartermas"race"lostmuchofits former
credibility as a concept. Scientists agree that, interms of DNA genetics, "race"has no significant
meaning as a way of categorizing human differences. Intermarried families offer the puzzleof a
parentandchildconsideredasbelongingtotwodifferentracesclearlyanabsurdideagiventhat
racewasthought ofasbiologicallypassedfromparenttooffspring.Thus "culture"andethnicity
began to replace "race" as a term for distinguishing among distinct human groups. In the U.S.,
African Americans respondedthat wewere notyetlivingin apostracialworld,despite Barack
Obamas election, andthatafocus on feelgood multiculturalismthat celebrates diversitycan
becomeanexcusefornotcontinuingthestruggleagainstracism.
2.Isthereanyjusticeinthisworld?
The concern to create a more "culturally diverse" curriculum had roots in the
intellectualandsocialmovementsassociatedwiththeU.S.CivilRightsrevolutionof
the 1960s. These included Black Power, La Raza/Chicano Power, the American
Indian Movement, and the Women's Liberation movement, each of which
challengedthenormsandeffectsofeducationalpolicy. Perhapsmoreimportantly,
the U.S. Supreme Court ruling inBrownvs. Board of Education(1954) which
outlawedexplicit school segregationledto the admissionof large numbersof
nonwhitestudentstopublicandsomeprivateschools(alsooccasioningthe"white
flight"thathaslargely succeeded inresegregating schools in most majorcities).
Teachers andschool administratorsthensaw a student body withvery different
faces. This demographic cultural diversity was accelerated by postcolonial
immigrationfrom nonWesternEuropeannations during thelasttwo decades
especially from Mexico, Latin America, and Asia. This pattern was largely caused by the
liberalization of U.S. immigration laws in the mid1960s, which had formerly restricted non
European immigration. Multiculturalism thus also denotes an approach to culturally relevant
pedagogythattakesintoaccounttheculturaldiversityintheclassroom,thesocialconditionsofthe
students,andthedifferencesintheirbackgroundknowledgeandlearningstyles.
3.Meltorgetoutofthepot!
The historical emegence of multiculturalism as an ideology brings with it many complicated
conceptualproblems,causingarichdebateoverwhatmulticulturalismisorshouldmean.America's
traditionalconceptionofitselfasa"meltingpot"ofdiversepeoplesjoinedinacommonNewWorld
culturehasbeenchallengedbythosemulticulturalistswhoconsiderthe"meltingpot"metaphora
coverforoppressiveassimilation. To them, the onlywayyouwereabletomeltinto thepotisby
assimilating becoming similar to the dominant or "hegemonic" white culture. The
NaturalizationActof1789declaredthatonlywhiteimmigrantscouldeventuallybecomecitizens.
In fact, admission to the sociocultural pot of acceptance was restricted at first only to certain
Europeanethnicgroups(theEnglish,Dutch,German,French,andScandinavian),sothatotherssuch
astheIrish, the Jews, theItalians, theGreeks, andthe Slavs all experienceddiscrimination inthe
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process.Hotels,clubs,andhousingdevelopmentsroutinelyadvertisedethnicdiscriminationagainst
thesegroups,justas JimCrowsegregationwasseenintheubiquitouswhiteandcoloredsigns
placedonwaterfountains,waitingrooms,theaters,andparks.
Many multiculturalists reject acculturation andassimilation in principle, as violations of human
rights, as well as out of a recognition of historical truth. Critical Multiculturalism becomes a
movement that insists that
Americansociety has never been only
white, but always in fact
multiracial and diverse. The Native
Americans had been here for
thousands of years, the Spanish were
the first settlers, Africansarrived
as early as 1620, Mexicans became
citizensbythethousandsin1848
whentheU.S.conqueredhalfofMexico
in the War of1848, and Chinese
and Japanese emigrated to labor here
throughout the 19th and 20th
centuries. Recovering the memory of
t h i s h i s t o r y , c r i t i c a l
multiculturalism seeks to preserve
distinctly different ethnic, racial,
or cultural communities without
melting them into a common
c u l t u r e . T h u s t h i s f o r m o f
multiculturalism is also called
cultural pluralism, as it envisions a
society with many different cultures living equally and sidebyside. Critical multiculturalism
critiquestheformercultureofwhitesupremacy,acultureoflegalizedbigotryanddiscrimination,
and so advocate an emphasis on the separate characteristics and virtues of particular cultural
groups.
4.Islam,Immigration,andtheFailureofMulticulturalism?
Inthe seconddecade ofthe 21st century, debates over multiculturalism andcultural pluralism
center less onthe issues ofrace prominent in the late20th century, andmoreon religion and
immigration.Themeltingpotidealismofculturalpluralismappearedchallengedbyseemingly
unbridgeable and sometimes violent religious differences. These differences became sharply
public and international in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001 on New York and
Washington,whenSaudiArabianhijackersavowinganIslamicjihadagainsttheWestflewplanes
into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, precipitating a reaction that included wars in
AfghanistanandIraq. Bombings by MuslimsinEuropelikewise starteda debateoverwhether
immigrants from Muslim countries were capable of
assimilation.
OnFebruary 5, 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron
set off an international controversy with a speech at the
MunichsecurityconferenceinwhichhecondemnedIslamist
extremism and in part blamed its rise in England to state
m u l t i c u l t u r a l i s m : U n d e r t h e d o c t r i n e o f s t a t e
multiculturalism, he said, we have encouraged different
culturestoliveseparatelives,apartfromeachotherandapart
from the mainstream. Weve failed to provide a vision of
society to which they feel they want to belong. Weve even
toleratedthesesegregatedcommunitiesbehavinginwaysthat
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runcompletelycountertoourvalues.TheIslamiccommunitiesofBritainhavebeenabreeding
groundfor terrorists,according to Cameron, andtothe extentthatthesecommunitiesdo not
assimilateto themajoritycultures ideologyofuniversalhumanrightsandseculardemocracy,
Cameron claimed, their separatism shows the failure of multiculturalism. Critics ofCamerons
speech saw it as lending support to Islamophobia and as downplaying poverty, racism, and
discriminationascausesofdissatisfactionamongimmigrantsandcommunitiesofcolor.
IntheUnitedStates, immigrationhasalways beenapowerful politicalissue, asnativistshave
periodicallywarnedagainsttheflowofnewforeigners,fromtheIrishandItaliansandJewstothe
Mexicans and the Hmong. From the 1980s onward, antiimmigration sentiment increasingly
focusedonLatinos, especiallyMexicans, althoughmany individuals targetedinsuchcampaigns
were in fact Mexican Americans whose ancestors had been citizens dating back to the 19th
century.Mostofthetensionaroseoutofaneconomic contradiction:ontheonehand,American
businesses and households relied on the lowwage and nonunionized labor of Latinos,
particularlytheundocumented;ontheotherhand, thedeclineinjobopportunitiesexperienced
bymanyinthemajoritycultureledthemtoblameimmigrationandtocallforstrongermeasures
against it, including border fences and police document checks. While some claimed that
Hispanicswererefusing,unlikewhiteethnics, toassimilate,bilingualismwasnostrongeramong
Latino communities than it had been historically with Poles and Germans in similar urban
settings. Meanwhile American majority culture continued to borrow from and incorporate the
food,song,literature,andartfromSouthoftheBorder.

5.Isidentitypolitical?
One problem with certain strands of multiculturalism is their reliance on "identity politics."
"Identitypolitics"refers to the tendencytodefineone'spoliticalandsocialidentity andinterests
purely in terms of some group category: race, ethnicity, class, gender, nationality, religion, etc.
Identity politics becamemore popular afterthe1960s formanyofthe
same reasons that multiculturalism did. The critique of America's
"commonculture"ledmanypeopleto identifywithaparticulargroup,
ratherthan with the nation a nation, after all, whose policies they
believed had excluded or oppressed them. People increasingly called
themselves by hybrid names: NativeAmericans, AfricanAmericans,
LatinoAmericans, AsianAmericans, GayAmericans, etc., in an
explosionofhyphenation.
This movement for group solidarity did in many cases provide
individuals with the resources to defend their interests and express
theirvalues,resourcesthatasdisparateindividualstheycouldnotpossiblyattain.AstheAmerican
economybegan to decline in the late20th century, the scramblefor a pieceoftheshrinking pie
increased the tendency of people to band together in groups that together might have enough
powerto defendorextendtheirinterests.Americansocietyisnowoftenseenasabattlegroundof
specialinterest groups, many of them defined by the racial, ethnic, or cultural identity of their
members. Hostility betweenthese groups as they compete for scarce resources is inevitable. In
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defenseofidentitypolitics,otherspointoutthatthesedivisionsbetweenculturalgroupsarelessthe
voluntarydecisionsofindividualsthantheproductofdiscriminationandbigotryintheoperationof
theeconomyandthesocialinstitutions.Itistheseinjusticesthatdividepeopleupbyrace,ethnicity,
gender, sexual preference, etc., privileging the dominant group and subordinating the rest, they
claim.
6.Breakingupishardtodo.
Still,mostanalystsadmitthatinpracticeindividualsbelongtonumerousdifferentgroupsandhave
complexsocioculturalidentities.Thetheoreticalwordforanalyzingpeopleintermsoftheirgroup
affiliationsis"subjectposition."Eachpersonoccupiesavarietyofsubjectpositionsispositioned
socially, economically,andpoliticallybyvirtueofhowhisorhersubjectivityisshapedbygroup
identifications. When we analyze our identities, we canbreak them up into numerous facets of
ourselves,untilitseemsthatwemightneverbeabletoputthembacktogetheragain.
A personmay think ofherself or betreated atone moment as awoman, at anothermoment as
Asian, at another moment as upperclass, at another moment as elderly, at another moment as
Christian, at another moment as a lesbianeach time being either helped or hindered by the
identification,dependingonthecircumstances.Thevariouspartsofourculturalidentitiesmaynot
adduptoaneatandpredictablewhole.Multiculturalism,then,insofarasitgroupsindividualsinto
categories,mayoverlookthepracticalrealitythatnoonelivesinjustonebox.Recentproponentsof
multiculturalism, indeed, haveemphasizedthemulticulturalism withineachindividual,aseachof
uscanmapourmultiplicitythroughthemanypointsonthediversitywheel.

Questions:
I.Ismulticulturalismthesameasmultiracialismormultiethnicity?
A)yes,ifraceorethnicity=culture
B)no,ifcultureisindependentofraceandethnicity
II.Ismulticulturalismapoliticalconcept?
A)yes,ifitmeanstheequalrightsandrespectaccordedtodistinctculturalgroupsortraditions
bylawsandgovernmentalpractices
B)no,ifitsimplyreferstotheexistenceofdistinctculturalgroupswithinthesamenationstate,
regardlessoftheirrelativelegalstatus
III.Doesmulticulturalismmeansomekindofegalitarianismequalityofopportunityor
equalityofoutcome?
A)Ifmulticulturalismmeansequalrightsandrespectfordistinctculturalgroups,thendo
individualsdeserveequalityofopportunityregardlessofraceorethnicity(orotherdemining
category)?Howdoesonedemineequalityofopportunity?
B)Doestheegalitarianismofmulticulturalismrequireequalityofoutcomeorresult?Thatis,if
50%ofthepopulationinyourcityisHispanic,should50%ofthepoliceforceorteachersor
corporateexecutivesbeHispanic?Ifonly5%areHispanic,howdoyouexplainthedifferencein
outcome,especiallyifyoumaintainthattherehasbeenanequalopportunitytotry?
1.Doestheinequalityofoutcomesproveracialorethnicdiscrimination?Isittheresultofthe
socialandsometimeslegal/governmentaldiscriminationpracticedbysomeculturalgroups
againstothers?Doesthismeanthatsocialandeconomicinequalitiesproducecultural
differences?
2.Doestheinequalityofoutcomesproveculturaldifferencesinvaluesandbehaviorsbetween
groups?Aretheregroupsthathavebetteroutcomesbecauseoftherelativesuperiorityoftheir
values,ideas,institutions,socialpractices,etc.?Doesthismeanthatculturaldifferencesproduce
economicinequalities?
3.Areinequalitiesofoutcomestatisticallysignimicantforwholeculturalgroups,orarethese
principallyamatterofdifferencesbetweenindividuals,whohavedistincttalents,skills,
temperaments,etc.?
IV.Howdoesmulticulturalismchangethewaywewritehistory,giventhathistoryisusually
aboutthestrugglesofgroupsforland,power,wealth,socialrecognition,andculturalexpression?