Multiculturalism

History

The first nation to adopt multiculturalism as official policy was Canada in 1971. Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau, contesting the assimilationist (“melting-pot”) perspectives, argued that adhesion to cultural community was a matter of individual choice but that for members of immigrant groups, their ability to choose their own was threatened without government intervention. His multicultural policy was intimately linked with the promotion of Canadian unity, after the rise of French Canadian nationalism. The policy legitimated belonging to both Canadian society and the immigrant's country of origin; it pressured political leaders to make some accommodations for ethnic minorities. By 1973, the term multiculturalism had been introduced into Australian policy, in an effort to shift away from expectations of assimilation and to recognize, respect, and celebrate the cultural differences of non-European migrants. Social expenditures on immmigrant assistance and welfare increased sharply, as did the role of ethnic organizations in helping minority communities. Policies in other countries, particularly Britain, the Netherlands, and Sweden, soon followed. In the United States, even though there is no legally established policy of multiculturalism, the ideology has flourished; however, it has also sparked significant negative reaction as ethnic and religious diversity has expanded in recent decades.

Criticisms

Cultural essentialism has been identified as the core problem with multiculturalism as an ideology. Many educational curricula, media images, public funding programs, professional training courses, and handbooks (e.g., in the social services) promote uniform, essentialist views of minority cultures and identities. Consequently, the politics of recognition risks becoming a politics of coercion when members belonging to a particular cultural community are stereotyped. Other critiques of multiculturalism point to the intensification of group barriers and interests, which when carried too far can lead to a weakened national cohesion, the underestimation of internal group differences and inequalities, and the problematic relationship of multiculturalism to the building of nation-states, especially in young countries where there are large populations of native peoples who experienced European colonialism and where Eurocentrism is still strong. Hence, in all diverse societies, young and old, some sense of balance between internal group bonding and nation binding is necessary.

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