The Political Sociology of a Multicultural Society

Abstract

Although a few right-wing Conservative spokesmen have recently challenged the notion that Britain should be a multicultural society and have received some support from intellectuals of the New Right (Honeyford, 1988), the idea that we now do have a multicultural society, and that this is not only inevitable but desirable, is widely accepted. Unfortunately it is not at all clear what exactly the term means. Although it purports to being a sociological description, sociologists have done little to clarify the kinds of structure to which it refers. This chapter will, therefore seek to set out the basis for a political sociology of the multicultural society both as an ideal and as a reality, and, while dealing primarily with Britain, indicate what the principal variables are, so laying the basis for a more generally applicable theory.

Originally published in European Journal for Intercultural Studies, vol. 2, no. 1 (Rex, 1991a).