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“Utter Failure” or Unity out of Diversity? Debating and Evaluating Policies of Multiculturalism

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  • Irene Bloemraad
  • Matthew Wright

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="imre12135-abs-0001"> Across immigrant-receiving democracies, “multiculturalism” has come under assault by political decision-makers and commentators. The academic debate, while less fiery, is also heated. We start by outlining the multiple meanings of “multiculturalism”: a term for demographic diversity; a political philosophy of equality or justice; a set of policies to recognize and accommodate ethno-racial and religious diversity; or a public discourse recognizing and valorizing pluralism. We then review the existing empirical literature and offer some new statistical analyses to assess what we know about the harm or benefits of multicultural policies, focusing on sociopolitical outcomes. We conclude that multicultural policies appear to have some modest positive effects on sociopolitical integration for first-generation immigrants and likely little direct effect, positive or negative, on those in the second generation. On the question of majority backlash, the limited scholarship is mixed; we speculate that multiculturalism works best in places where both minorities and majority residents see it as part of a common national project. We end by considering the conditions under which this happens and whether there are distinctions between “Anglo-settler” and other countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Irene Bloemraad & Matthew Wright, 2014. "“Utter Failure” or Unity out of Diversity? Debating and Evaluating Policies of Multiculturalism," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48, pages 292-334, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:intmig:v:48:y:2014:i::p:s292-s334
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/imre.2014.48.issue-s1
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    Cited by:

    1. Herman G. van de Werfhorst & Anthony Heath, 2019. "Selectivity of Migration and the Educational Disadvantages of Second-Generation Immigrants in Ten Host Societies," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 35(2), pages 347-378, May.
    2. CALLENS Marie-Sophie, 2015. "Integration policies and public opinion: in conflict or in harmony?," LISER Working Paper Series 2015-02, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    3. Leerkes, Arjen & Fokkema, Tineke & Bening, Jonathan, 2020. "Community multiculturalism and self-reported immigrant crime: Testing three theoretical mechanisms," MERIT Working Papers 2020-055, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Ronald Kwon & Phoebe Ho & Mehr Mumtaz, 2024. "Perceptions of the Size of the Foreign-Born Population: Do Changes in Multicultural Policies Shape Beliefs?," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 43(4), pages 1-19, August.

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