Agonism or identity? A response to Chin’s and Levey’s recognition as acknowledgement: symbolic politics in multicultural democracies

Abstract

ABSTRACT In their thoughtful and thought-provoking article, Clayton Chin and Geoffrey Brahm Levey argue that a distinctive conception of recognition as acknowledgement can and should be used in order to achieve the symbolic inclusion of all members of multicultural democracies. In this response, I offer a number of critical – but I hope also constructive – remarks on a number of aspects of their thesis. First, I discuss the forms of acknowledgement which they identify. Second, I question the alleged distinctiveness of their conception of recognition as acknowledgement. Third, I consider the status and role of democracy and democratic deliberation in their argument. Fourth, I analyse their claim that struggles for recognition can be additive processes.