Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is the idea that cultural diversity within a single society is desirable and should be given public recognition in the form of minority cultural rights or state accommodation of cultural minorities. It may seem that such a view connects readily with forms of relativism, in particular cultural relativism, according to which no single culture is ethically superior to any other. But such a picture is too simple. Much multicultural political theory and practice is explicitly based on liberal values. On this view, multiculturalism should be seen not as a form of relativism but as a fundamentally universalist doctrine, although one that welcomes a certain range of legitimate cultural diversity. There are also some influential justifications of multiculturalism, liberal and non-liberal, that may appear to embrace cultural relativism but which, in fact, do not.