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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: 5, Insightful) by BK on Sunday May 24 2015, @05:58PM
Sadly, we need to define terms here.
The fact that I can get Pizza, Fajitas, Hamburgers, Bologna, Sushi, and Scotch* within a mile of my house is not evidence of the success or failure of multiculturalism.
Multiculturalism is more than letting someone who looks different live in your neighborhood. Multiculturalism requires the acceptance and possibly the celebration of what makes that person or culture different. The term Cultural Relativism speaks to this practice alone. Another aspect of Multiculturalism is Open Borders - the idea that there should be no legal barrier to entry for those with those from different cultures. The final, and perhaps the most important aspect of Multiculturalism is non-integrationism -- the belief that those from other cultures should not change their practices, views, beliefs, etc. in order to fit in with their parent community.
Multiculturalism has led to the close settling of cultures with diametrically opposed views and practices. The most obvious example I am aware of is the inter-settling of European Christiann-Agnostic-Secularists and Muslim-Theocratists from Africa and the Middle East.
*Scotch was a possible fuel for this discussion though.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @08:06PM
> Another aspect of Multiculturalism is Open Borders - the idea that there should be no legal barrier to entry for those with those from different cultures.
Since that exists no where in the world, it seems your citation of it is more about displaying your tribal affiliation with other nationalists than an actual discussion of facts.