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Multiculturalism

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Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy

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Introduction

The term “multiculturalism” is used in at least three distinctive yet interrelated ways. It may refer to

  1. (a)

    A diagnosis of cultural diversity

  2. (b)

    Policies that consider cultural diversity a positive value and seek to manage it in a normatively desirable way; or to that very policy aim itself

  3. (c)

    To any set of theoretical assumptions that justify and elaborate on the positive value of cultural diversity and/or multicultural policies

In what follows, these three proposed distinct meanings of multiculturalism will be discussed more in detail (section “Meanings of “Multiculturalism”: Diagnostic, Political, Philosophical”) before the historical development of the political discourse (section “History of Political Multiculturalism”) and dominant philosophical justifications and criticisms of multiculturalism (section “Controversies About Multiculturalism”) will be sketched out briefly. The entry concludes with some general thoughts on present challenges to multiculturalism...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Jekaterina Markow

Authors
  1. Jekaterina Markow
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Correspondence to Jekaterina Markow .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for International & Comparative Law, University of Baltimore School of Law, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Mortimer Sellers

  2. Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, University of Salzburg, Austria, Salzburg, Austria

    Stephan Kirste

Section Editor information

  1. Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan

    Tetsu Sakurai Ph.D

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Markow, J. (2020). Multiculturalism. In: Sellers, M., Kirste, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_172-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_172-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6730-0

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