Multiculturalism

Question 1

Charles Taylor

Answer 1

Politics of recognition
Communitarian
“Equal recognition is not just a courtesy we owe people. It is a vital human need”
“My own identity depends crucially on my dialogical relations with others”
“Nonrecognition or misrecognition can inflict harm… a form of oppression”

Question 2

Isaiah Berlin

Answer 2

Because humans value different things,
different cultures may organise their societies
differently, and this diversity should be
recognised rather than eliminated.
The world that we encounter in ordinary
experience is one in which we are faced with
choices between ends equally ultimate, and
claims equally absolute.
“Few things have done more harm than the belief on the part of
individuals or groups… that they are in sole possession of the
truth.”
“I wish to be the instrument of my own, not other men’s, acts of
will.
“Everything is what it is, liberty is liberty, not equality or fairness or
justice
Human goals are many, not all of them are commensurable

Question 3

Will Kymlicka

Answer 3

‘liberals can and should endorse certain
external protections, where they promote
fairness between groups, but should reject
internal restrictions which limit the right of
group members to question and revise
traditional authorities and practices’
“We have no choice but to learn to live with
cultural pluralism, and to devise strategies
for coexistence that are consistent with
principles of freedom, justice, and democracy”
individual freedom is dependent on
access to one’s own culture.

Representation rights
Polyethnic rights
Self-government rights

Question 4

Tariq Madood

Answer 4

government should not impose an approach to
integration; people should be free to choose the
method in which the integrate.
Integration should be two way.
There must be recognition of minority groups.
“Human beings are culturally embedded and socially
formed”
“Individuals are partly constituted
by their memberships in groups and communities”
“The challenge [is] relating issues
of identity equality… with
economic equality or what’s called redistribution”

Question 5

Bhikhu Parekh

Answer 5

“Liberalism is not the way to remove the imperfections of a culture. The answer is to look at one’s
own culture from the standpoint of others”
Community of Communities
“The claim of neutrality often masks the dominance of the majority culture.”
“Human beings are both similar and different.
“We must emphasise the importance of the other”
The Parekh Report