The critique of multiculturalism in Britain: integration, separation and shared identification

Abstract

Multiculturalism as a political programme is under attack from politicians, journalists and academics. The criticisms it faces are many and varied: that it presupposes an essentialist conception of culture that treats culture as something which is static, homogeneous and bounded; that it gives unfair advantages to minority cultural and religious groups through special provisions such as exemptions from laws and policies; and that it encourages cultural communities to form separate parallel societies rather than integrate. It is the last of these criticisms that has been particularly prominent in Britain over the past 15 years. But when it is said that multicultural policies in Britain have discouraged integration, we need to be clear about what is meant by both ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘integration’. The latter is variously defined as a process of mutual adjustment, as sharing a national identity and as participation on equal terms by members of different cultural groups in the major spheres of society. Once the necessary distinctions have been drawn, it is far from clear that multiculturalism discourages integration. But doubts can also be raised about whether integration is always desirable, or whether the more integrated a society becomes, the better. Although integration has been regarded as an important goal, for various reasons that I shall explore it needs to be treated with caution.