From Multiculturalism To Interculturation: Current Sociological Approaches

Due to the dynamism and heterogeneity specific to most societies nowadays, cultural diversity is a constant of social life. Therefore, different cultural identities, cultural contacts and exchanges, interculturality, but also subcultures and countercultures are, in today’s globalized world, features of contemporary societies, characterized by multiculturalism and social mobility. Especially as a result of the new waves of migration and fleeing in recent years, new discussions in the academic field have emerged related to the new contexts of cultural diversity, multiculturalism, cultural integration, social inclusion. The cultural impact and the various contrasts between the native culture of immigrants and the culture of the host societies generated debates and polemics both in political and scientific sphere. This paper deals with the current sociological approaches as regards interculturality and the major cultural processes and phenomena that emerge in a multicultural society. In this respect, a general framework for addressing these issues is delineated, and notions such as human and cultural diversity, multiculturalism, interculturality, acculturation, interculturation, but also concepts of subculture and counterculture are discussed. The current views and approaches in sociology are highlighted and the complexity and the difficulties that epitomise and accompany some cultural processes are pointed out.