Is Multiculturalism a Model for Managing Diversity and Social Cohesion?
Participants with opposing views on multiculturalism are invited to a debate. A defining feature of modern societies is their struggle to accommodate diversity. In this struggle, a philosophy and a set of policies collectively referred to as ‘multiculturalism’ has achieved a somewhat favoured status. This, however, is not a development without its critics. A debate is starting to take shape around several related questions. To these belong: how should multicultural societies balance individual and collective rights; how should they strike a balance between group values and national values; how should one pursue social cohesion while, at the same time, support freedom of cultural expression; how should one resolve the tensions that arise between the values of individual freedoms and the, sometimes conflicting, values held by immigrant and ethnic communities who do not to the same extent embrace such values. This latter point has been especially prominent in feminist concerns around gend
