Multiculturalism as National Dialogue

Abstract

The advent of Western societies with culturally diverse populations has inevitably been accompanied by demands by minority groups for the recognition of their unique identities and practices. Multiculturalism as an empirical phenomenon — the fact that a society contains a plurality of cultural groups — has prompted liberal-democratic states to adopt, to some degree, multiculturalism as public policy. It is in political culture as much as in policy, though, that multiculturalism has come to be felt by citizens. Claims for recognition — because they frequently involve disagreements about lifestyles, beliefs and practices — demand that a political community engages in a public dialogue. They provoke an enlarged democratic discussion, in which citizens consider minority identities and practices but also come to reflect on their community’s way of doing things.