Society and the state

Question 1

What liberal idea of society do multiculturalists reject?

Answer 1

That society is made up of atomistic individuals, whose personality has been shaped ‘autonomously’.

Question 2

What is the significant disagreement over what constitutes a community between multiculturalism and communitarianism?

Answer 2

Multiculturalism: Psychological and cultural criteria
Communitarianism: Economic and geographical criteria

Question 3

Examples of communities according to communitarians

Answer 3

Farming communities of East Anglia.

Former mining communities of North East England and South Wales.

Question 4

Examples of communities according to multiculturalists

Answer 4

‘The gay community’
‘The Jewish community’
The Irish community’
Etc.

Question 5

According to the 2011 census, what percentage of the UK population were BAME?

Answer 5

14%

Question 6

According to the 2011 census, what percentage of Greater London residents were BAME?

Answer 6

More than 40%

Question 7

According to the 2011 census, what percentage of Greater London residents did not speak English as their first language?

Answer 7

21%

Question 8

According to the 2011 census, which UK cities had more than 20% of residents being Muslim?

Answer 8

London, Birmingham and Bradford

Question 9

What is the view of multiculturalists of the UK being diverse?

Answer 9

It benefits society

Question 10

According to both Parekh and Modood, UK’s diverse data represents a glorious opportunity to do what?

Answer 10

Broaden the understanding of all citizens and thus create a society where there is greater tolerance and wisdom.

Question 11

According to Berlin, exposure to other cultures makes us what?

Answer 11

More conscious of those cultures, more aware of the distinctive character of our own culture, and more likely to consider ways in which it can be refined.

Question 12

What is cultural relativism?

Answer 12

A belief that the values and beliefs of particular culture should be judged by the context of that culture alone, and that the state should not decree any single culture as morally superior.

Question 13

What did Perekh observe in relation to competition in a multicultural society?

Answer 13

Multicultural societies would be ‘less a competition, more a conversation… in which each community would learn from each other’.

Question 14

Why did Perekh assert that the emergence of multicultural societies should be welcomed?

Answer 14

To enrich and develop each of the cultures concerned.

Question 15

Which two types of state response that are possible following the emergence of multicultural societies do multiculturalists reject?

Answer 15

Assimilation

Individualist integration

Question 16

What is the aim of state sponsored assimilation?

Answer 16

To encourage minorities to ‘blend in’ with the existing majority culture and to suppress their native culture.
The aim being to cement a more cohesive, mono-cultural society, free of segregation.

Question 17

What would happen to faith school in a country where assimilation is practiced?

Answer 17

Unsupported and proscribed (banned)

Question 18

Example of a French assimilationist policy?

Answer 18

French ban on Muslim women wearing the burkha in public places.

Question 19

Which countries practice the individualist integration response and since when?

Answer 19

UK and USA

Since the 1960’s

Question 20

Which country practices the assimilationist response?

Answer 20

France

Question 21

What will an individualist integration response insist on?

Answer 21

A prevailing dominant culture, usually of a liberal-individualist character, and encourage those from minority cultures to adapt to it in return for all the trappings of a liberal state.

Question 22

As opposed to assimilation, what will individualist integration not object to?

Answer 22

Individuals worshipping ‘alternative’ religions or dressing in a way that denotes ‘other’ cultures, just as long as those individuals acknowledge that, in the public sector, a single set of cultural values (usually liberal) must prevail.

Question 23

As part of the same plan to integrate individuals from ‘other’ cultures, the individualist-integration state might illegalise what?

Answer 23

Overt racial or cultural discrimination

Question 24

What is value pluralism?

Answer 24

Linked to Isiah Berlin, this term denotes that there is a range of ‘absolute’ values- such as liberty, equality and compassion- prevalent in liberal democracies. But it is not for the liberal state to decree any one of them as more important than another.

Question 25

What is formal equality?

Answer 25

Linked to liberalism’s historic claim that all should be equal before the law, with equal political rights, this term is used by multiculturalism for an additional purpose: to ensure that the state accords equal respect to all cultures and religions in society and does not accord special treatment to any one cultural community.

Question 26

What is linguistic pluralism?

Answer 26

The state subsidises the publication of public documents (such as council tax bill or road tax notification) in a variety of languages.

Question 27

What is public service pluralism?

Answer 27

State agencies like schools and health services show greater sensitivity to issues such as the religious holidays and dress codes of minority cultures, while giving financial support to public services (such as faith schools) that cater specifically for minority religions.

Question 28

What is positive discrimination?

Answer 28

The state insists that governing bodies of public organisations (such as local education authorities) contain ‘quotes’ of representatives from a variety of cultural communities.

Question 29

What is legalistic pluralism?

Answer 29

The state allows its legal system to enforce separate religious laws in certain circumstances (such as Sharia law’s attitude to divorce and inheritance among Muslims)

Question 30

What is cultural federalism?

Answer 30

The state creates and supports new constitutional bodies (such as a Muslim parliament) that will reflect cultural diversity, discuss matters specific to certain cultures and pass laws applying to those of a certain cultural community.