The Carriers of Diversity within the Police Forces: A “Weberian” Approach to Diversity in Germany

Abstract

Cultural diversity has been one the most pressing challenges to present-day Germany. Issues of diversity and, its corollary from the perspectiveof the recipient society, the practice of toleration—as opposedto the personal attitude of tolerance—are being paradigmaticallydebated around the fate of Muslims. Although not new, Muslimspresence and public claims, such as the claim for legal recognition ofIslam and religious instruction in public schools, have undoubtedlyraised the issue of diversity anew. Some recent events, such as the“Ludin case,” a German teacher of Afghan descent who fought thefederal state of Baden-Wurttemberg to wear a hijab in class, is a tellingexample (see Beverly Weber’s article examining the case in this issueof German Politics and Society). Similarly to the debate raging overheadscarves in France, this case seems to point to the “Muslim” as animportant figure of the stranger, understood as symbol of groupmediation, of the group’s inner and outer boundaries.1 But, unlike theheadscarf affair in France, where pupils are at the center stage of thedebate, the case of teachers in Germany bears witness to a differenttype of stranger as outlined by Simmel in terms of spatial and symbolicposition within the group. Indeed, he/she is a stranger “fromwithin.”2 As such, Muslim growing and enduring presence in Germanyshowcases practical problems encountered with the “managementof diversity” within some state institutions. Looking at the assessment of these dilemmas not only points to conflicting normativemodels of social organization, but also puts in the hot seat thosewho, to paraphrase Dubet, carry out le travail sur autrui (“work on theother”), professionals activities, which aim at explicitly transformingthe “stranger.”