Revisiting multiculturalism : some reflections

Abstract

Modern societies are facing differences, conflicts in cultural aspects that have significant impact on human life across the globe. Multiculturalism is a way to understand and address some of these concerns. It shares the goal of a decent, just, and equitable society and aims to deal with injustice, tyranny, aggression and the exploitation of human beings. The debates around multiculturalism are multi-and inter disciplinary. The present work lies at the intersection of normative ethics and social/political philosophy. It tries to bring social and political theory to bear on concrete, real-world problems, such as inequality, injustice and issues of cultural-religious accommodation.The present thesis contributes to the existing discourse on multiculturalism. It revisits few values and principles such as Toleration, Love and Justice with a perspective of mitigating differences and conflicts among the cultures. It also supports the argument that state-nation as a concept and as a political institution, as opposed to nation-state, may be a better model in terms of accommodating diversity. It tries to enlarge the concept of toleration. Toleration is generally understood as a passive or negative value in terms of tolerating the ‘other’ or the deviant. The thesis argues that a believer in tolerance should not be content with the status quo; rather tolerance is an active and dynamic state in which one gets the opportunity to move forward towards development without confusion, fear or worry. Tolerance becomes love in its positive directions. Toleration and Love are inherently correlated.Forbearance of social differences is fundamental to the survival and progress of individuals, society and the nation. Conflicts, disputes, dissensions, fights or struggles are illustrative of the absence of Love; undoubtedly, harmony and cooperation emerge as chief characteristics of the state of Love. The chapter on Love explores the concept of Love and nuances associated with it. The concept ofstructural injustice is a product of social relationships of exploitation. The chapter on Justice extends Amartya Sen’s concept of Nyaya in an explicit manner to the cultural context. The task is to ensure enduring harmony based on justice.Social progress is impossible without different cultural communities interacting with each other. Conflict and rivalries arise when it comes to the benefit of one community, perhaps, at the cost of another’s inconvenience or loss. Tolerance and Love coupled with a sense of Justice play a major role here in effecting a clear balance between such differences and prompt one community to accept the ‘other’ and work for its development. These concepts play an important role in recognizing the democratic and constitutional rights of other communities.The thesis articulates the concept of ‘state-nation’ which responds to the democratic rights of diverse communities in an effective manner. State-nation model strives to create a sense of belonging along with respect to larger political community by institutionalizing diversities related to language, religion or cultural norms. The thesis discusses the context of India where the pursuit of multiple but complimentary socio-cultural identities are publically recognized and sub-national identities and national identity co-exist without threatening each other through asymmetrical federalism. This research work indicates that there is a need to revisit this assumption and points towards the need to correct derivative understanding of multiculturalism in a context like India.