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When we hear the word "multiculturalism," some imagine people of all races and creeds holding hands, others imagine a clash of disparate cultures that cannot co-exist. There are many more nuanced definitions in between.
In the world of mainstream politics, there is now widespread acknowledgment that the failure of immigrants to properly integrate into the culture of their host nations is causing a lot more harm that good. The backlash against multiculturalism has begun to manifest itself as a rise of nationalist parties such as England's UKIP and France's National Front gaining more support from disillusioned countrymen.
In 2010 German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that,
" This [multicultural] approach has failed, utterly failed," Merkel told the meeting in Potsdam, west of Berlin, yesterday. "
Merkel also suggested that the onus was on immigrants to do more to integrate into German society, and late last year the European Court of Justice ruled that EU citizens who move to another member state "solely in order to obtain social assistance" may be excluded from receiving that assistance, an acknowledgement that multiculturalism's side effects are causing more harm than good.
Those interested in this topic should read Foreign Affairs' excellent article The Failure of Multiculturalism.
As a political tool, multiculturalism has functioned as not merely a response to diversity but also a means of constraining it. And that insight reveals a paradox. Multicultural policies accept as a given that societies are diverse, yet they implicitly assume that such diversity ends at the edges of minority communities. They seek to institutionalize diversity by putting people into ethnic and cultural boxes—into a singular, homogeneous Muslim community, for example—and defining their needs and rights accordingly. Such policies, in other words, have helped create the very divisions they were meant to manage.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 24 2015, @05:42PM
Cool. You disagree. Can you point to any examples where it has WORKED? It hasn't worked in the US, and it seems to be failing in Europe. Maybe you have some OTHER examples, like Japan, or Korea, or - I don't know - maybe Mexico?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Sunday May 24 2015, @05:58PM
Aside from arbitrary lines on a map, I think its more instructive to look at economic level. Its hard to find a wealthy area, Manhattan Island, City of London, maybe SFO, where people are so rich they don't care who their neighbors are, plus gated communities, such that "it works if people are distracted enough by rolling around in stinking piles of money".
Then again, try the rest of the world. Places that aren't so rich. Alabama, Iraq, the ghettos in France, Germany in the 20s and 30s, hmmm not quite such a multicultural success story, eh? In fact it seems almost universal, if you don't have a Nordstroms or a Saks you probably don't have the piles of cash to be successfully multicultural.
To some extent multiculturalism is the ultimate 1%er dog whistle, where you get to brag about how wealthy your community is without actually stating you're rich.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @09:19PM
In such a case of Nordstroms or Saks then that becomes your culture and thus multiculturalism still fails. 1%ers all around the world share a very homogenous monoculture compared to the rest of us.
(Score: 1) by azrael on Sunday May 24 2015, @07:13PM
Found the following article that makes good reading on this subject - probably better reading than any reply I could knock-up in 3 minutes - The successes and failures of multiculturalism [policy-network.net]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 24 2015, @07:26PM
LOL - it's probably a damned good article. I can tell because I'm not allowed to read it.
"You don't have the correct permissions for this page."
I was looking forward to something challenging, too!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 24 2015, @07:28PM
Sorry - I posted to quickly. I did a search for the article you cited, and ixquick gave me a link to the same story on the same site - it opens up for me. Reading . . .
(Score: 1) by azrael on Sunday May 24 2015, @07:35PM
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday May 24 2015, @07:39PM
I looked at those numbers. The numbers are somewhat deceiving. Please, listen to Brigitte as she explains the importance of those numbers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry3NzkAOo3s [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @07:48PM
What is it with the crazies always citing videos?
You are a gamergater too aren't you? Those freakjobs love to link to videos, like we should spend 5+ minutes listening to some rando rambling about something that isn't even on topic to start with? Come on man. Posting those videos is like masturbating, it makes you feel good but nobody else wants to see that.
(Score: 1) by KGIII on Sunday May 24 2015, @10:16PM
Depending on their gender I might want to see it...
Yes, I joined just to add this and figure I may like the site as it is an analogue of /. which I still enjoy reading (at times).
Anyhow, we still have (here in the US) areas that are traditionally Italian, French, Irish, and such. Chinatown ring a bell? So we have limited multicultural aspects I suppose.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @10:41PM
You picked a shitty topic to join up for.
Its the same cast of characters that rationalize their bigotry every time a story like this gets posted.
No amount of facts will deter them, even when they are directly refuted with unequivocal facts it just slides off like water on a duck's back and they will be right back with the same persecution fantasies and half-truths the next time a similar story gets posted. At best they have value as a foil. But it makes you feel icky after a while.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @07:44PM
Found the following article that makes good reading on this subject - probably better reading than any reply I could knock-up in 3 minutes - The successes and failures of multiculturalism
You dropped an ampersand from the URL.
This is a working link. [policy-network.net]
(Score: 1) by azrael on Sunday May 24 2015, @07:57PM
Well I didn't drop it!!!!
There's a global conspiracy, I swear!!!! THEY DID IT!!!