I.

MULTICULTURALISM AND CULTURE

- multiculturalism = belief that different cultures within a society should be given importance
- multiculturalism = the presence of or the support for the presence of several distinct cultural
or ethnic groups within a society
- multiculturalism = the view that cultures, races, and ethnicities, particularly those of minority
groups, deserve special acknowledgment of their differences within a dominant political
culture
- multiculturalism = a broad array of theories, attitudes, beliefs, norms, practices and policies
that seek to provide public recognition of an support for accommodation of non-dominant
ethnocultural groups
- 3 ways of understanding multi culturalism:
a) protective: preserves cultural integrity and authenticity of a group’s way of life, even if
it’s not in agreement with universal standards of human rights
b) liberal: accommodating + protecting diversity on the grounds that it promotes liberal
values such as equality, autonomy, toleration and equal respect; seeks to transform
the current social/political arrangements
c) imperial: not protective or liberal, hierarchical and racialized
- the melting pot theory of multiculturalism assumes that various immigrant groups will tend to
“melt together,” abandoning their individual cultures and eventually becoming fully assimilated
into the predominant society.
- example: the US
- salad bowl theory: a metaphor for the way an intercultural society can integrate different
cultures while maintaining their separate identities
- contrasts with a melting pot, which emphasizes the combination of the parts into a single
whole.
- example: Canada
- culture = to society what memory is to individuals
- culture = network of shared systems of knowledge consisting of learned routines of thinking,
feeling and interacting with other people
- culture = a corpus of substantive assertions and ideas about aspects of the world
- acquired through learning
- cultures are dynamic
- culture = shared among a collection of interconnected individuals who are often, but not
necessarily, demarcated by race/ethnicity/nationality
- it’s exetrnalized in rich symbols, artifacts, social constructions, social institutions
- used to form common ground for communication among members of a cultural group
- transmitted from one generation to the next or from old members to new members
- subject to continuous modifications because aspects of the knowledge system may be
falsified or deemed not applicable by newer social orders and realities
“Multiculturalism and the Dynamics of Modern Civilizations” by Paul Claval (MULTICULTURALISM
AND THE DYNAMICS OF MODERN CIVILIZATIONS)
- high culture: written, religion, rules, intellectual, imposing their values on low culture
- low culture: oral, customs, habits, material
- mass/popular culture: entertainment, consumption
- high culture: considered to be of great value and importance, elitist, specialized and technical
cultures
- culture vs civilization: civilization owns a broader meaning and a larger scale, civilizations
“embrace” culture, often distributed over large and almost fixed areas, with universal
vocations
- western civilization: includes western europe and north america; idea of progress
- amerindian civilizations: indian or islamic people
- each civilization includes a variable number of cultures and cultural systems/nations
 - it’s linked to high and low cultures
- recent developments: globalization and standardization of culture (contibuted to many
idelogical and religious movements, questioning technical progress as an ideal. emphasizing
social progress)

II. HISTORY OF MULTICULTURALISM IN THE US AND IN THE UK

- The British Empire: explorations in 16 century
- early settlements/colonies in 17th and 18th century
- slave trade
- at its peak in 1921
- cultural imperialism = “imposition by one usually politically or economically dominant
community of various aspects of its own culture onto another nondominant community”
- Connected with military conquests and colonialism
- britishness = british empire, religion, language, shared values, common cultural heritage,
class, the monarchy
- The US: The ”New World”
- Had been inhabited at least 20,000 years before
- The first settlements 16th-17th century
- 13 colonies
- Declaration of Independence 1776
- The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
- American Civil War: 1861-1865
Post civil war:
- Reconstruction:
➢ 1865, 13th amendment: abolition of slavery
➢ 1868, 14th amendment: citizenship
➢ 1870, 15th amendment: right to vote
- Post-reconstruction Jim Crow laws: “Separate But Equal” 1896
- Civil rights movement:
➢ 1954 segration illegal in public schools
➢ Rosa Parks 1955
➢ 1964 The Civil Rights Act
➢ 1967 interracial marriage
➢ 1968 Civil Rights Act
➢ Black Power Movement
- other minorities in US: hispanic, asian american, middle eastern, jewish american, native
american, irish american
- ⅓ of american people dont trace their ancestries to europe
- in California, minorities became the majority
- “To be or to become an American, a person did not have to be any particular national,
linguistic, religious, or ethnic background. All he had to do was to commit himself to the
political ideology centered on the abstract ideals of liberty, equality, and republicanism.”
- but it was suggested that according to this popular but inaccurate story, the country was
settled by Europeans and Americans are white, and race has functioned as a metaphor
necessary to the construction of americanness , and in the creation of this natural identity,
american has been defined as white
- contradicting views when it comes to americanness: equality, responsibility for one’s actions,
accepting racial and religious diversity, chirstian, native-born, english-speaking
Benedict Anderson: “The Nation And The Origins Of National Consciousness”
- three paradoxes about nations:
 - nationalism is a modern phenomenon even though many people think of their nations as
ancient and eternal
- it is universal (everyone has a nation), even though each nation is supposedly utterly
distinctive
- and it is powerful (so much so that people will die for their countries), even though on close
inspection it is hard to define
- Nations are imagined political communities
- convergence of capitalism, printing, and the diversity of vernacular languages led to the birth
of national consciousness

III. RACE AND ETHNICITY

- history of concept of race:
a) Explorations, colonialism; the idea of race begins to develop in the 17th century
b) Anthropologists and philosophers in the 18th century laid roots for scientific racism:
Linneaus’ Systema naturae (1758) , Blumenbach divided humankind into five
“varieties”
c) Transforming races into species in the 19th century: Samuel Morton’s craniometry,
Idea of different species, Anthropometry
d) Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution (1859)
- contemporary research about race shows that there is a lot of variation within each
recognized “race” of modern people
- the amount of genetic variation within any of these groups is greater than the average
difference between any 2 racial groups
- there are no genes that are unique to a particular race
- racial worldview = institutionalized set of beliefs and attitudes:
a) people can be divided into biologically separate, discrete, and exclusive races
b) visible physical differences are markers or symbols of race identity and status
c) Each race has distinct qualities of temperament, morality, disposition, and intellectual
ability
d) Races are unequal
e) The behavioral and physical attributes of each race are inherited and innate
f) Distinct races should be segregated
- racism is the belief and promotion of this worldview
- race is the child of racism, not the father
- race:
a) Socially constructed
b) Prescribed from the outside
c) Used to categorize people who share biological traits that society thinks are important
d) ”them”
- ethnicity
a) Shared language, cultural traits, common history
b) Identifying as a member of community
c) Partly based on choice
d) Possibility of several ethnic identities
e) Flexible and transformable
f) “us”
- if you have a minority position in society, you’re racialized before you’re allowed access to
your ethnic identity
- for example African immigrants that com eto the US: in Africa they were Senegalese,
Nigerian, etc, in the US they’re just black
- ethnicity is a new term, that emerged in 1972, ethnic is much older and derives from greek
 - ethnic used to refer to racial features or groups seen as inferior
- ethnic in every day language refers to minorities, but in anthropology all people are ethnic
- it’s an aspect of social relationship
- nationalism, like ethnic ideologies, stresses cultural similarity and draws boundaries in relation
to others
- according to nationalism, political boundaries should be the same as cultural boundaries
- ethnic movements are nationalistic when they demand command over a state
- minority = people distinguished by physical or cultural difference than the society sets apart
and subordinates
- minorities occupy a lower status in society
- not necessarily about size
- politically correct terms when talking about race and ethnicity
a) woud i mention “white student” when discussing others?
b) people of color, not “colored” or “non white”
c) african american and black arent always interchangeable, debate about capitalization
d) hispanic refers to ppl from spanish speaking countries, latino refers to ppl from latin
american descent
e) native american or american indian but not indian
- internalized racism: lies within individuals but it;s also systematic and structural; internalized
oppresion/privilege
- playing the race card: If someone accuses someone else of playing the race card, they think
that person is trying to gain special treatment because of their race
- Microaggressions: Everyday, casual offensive comments, often with no harm intended; this
does not mean it’s not harmful
- white guilt: "the recognition of unearned and unfair racial privileges, the acknowledgment of
personal racist attitudes or behavior, and/or the sense of responsibility for others’ racist
attitudes or behavior“
- On one hand, this guilt can lead people to unlearn racist attitudes and fight against White
supremacy.
- On the other hand, a person may disengage from the feelings of guilt and shame and become
defensive.

IV. MULTICULTURALISM: AN IDEA AND IDEAL

- Gunnar myrdal: research principles in social sciences:
a) social science goes beyond mere description and aims to explain social phenomena.
b) What is necessary from one standpoint/point of interest is not necessary from
another.
c) Sociology cannot declare one standpoint to be morally preferable to another. It should
only make its own standpoint clear and explicit.
d) “What structures, institutions and policies are necessary to achieve the ends set out
in the constitution/program/ideal?”
e) Ideal = equality of opportunity and treatment
f) Are the multicultural ideal and equality ideal in conflict?
- Plural societies:
a) Ethnic groups exist separately and have their own communal values.
b) The private and communal worlds of the particular ethnic groups are separated from
the public domain.
c) Plural societies are often individual micro-societies bound together by the political
institution (the state), ie. by the domination by one group over the others.
d) “plural society” is thus a model of racial domination.
- Models for a multicultural society:
 a) Society which is unitary in the public domain but encourages diversity in the private
and communal matters.
b) Society which is unitary in the public domain and also enforces/encourages unity of
cultural practice in private or communal matters.
c) Society which allows diversity and differential rights in the public domain and also
insist diversity of cultural practice.
d) Society which encourages diversity in the public domain while there is unity of cultural
practice between groups.
- modern multiculturalism involves acceptance of a single culture and a single set of rights in
the public domain, and a variety of cultures in the private and communal domains
- public domain refers to law, politics and economy
- “in a multicultural society no individual has more or less rights than another because of his or
her ethnic category”
- “Any suggestion of differential treatment of individuals or groups in the public domain is a
move away from the multicultural ideal towards plural/colonialist model”
- boundaries of private and public domains:
a) state intervention: state ownership, control, subsidies, social insurance, employment
measures, social services, education
- education in public and private domains: function of modern education system is to select
individuals for professional training, to transmit necessary survival skills, to transmit moral
values (area of potential conflict w private domain)
- conflicts:
a) individual rights protected by state and family values of the cultural groups
b) the principle of equality of opportunity and the principle of tolerance of cultural
diversity
c) religious practices and dominant culture values
d) Should education be removed from the public domain into the intra-communal
sphere?
- private domain:
a) cultural majority: Family is an integrated part of the larger network of social relations;
its culture is continuous with that of the main society.
b) cultural minority: Family is part of another social system and another culture, whose
values may even conflict with the dominant society.
- The multicultural ideal must be distinguished from the notion of a plural society.
- In a multicultural society we must distinguish between the public domain in which there is a
single culture based upon the notion of equality and the private domain, which permits
diversity btw. groups.
- The public domains includes law, politics and economics, and education insofar as this is
concerned with selection, transmission of skills and perpetuation of civic culture
- Moral education, primary socialization and religious belief belong to the private domain.
- The private domain in minorities includes kinship extending to the homeland, and a network
or associations providing a source of identity.
- Minority communities may conflict with and challenge the existing order. The new social order
of multicultural society will result from dialogue and conflict between cultures.

V. MULTICULTURAL CRITIQUES I
- Ethnic group: “a named human population with a myth of common ancestry, shared
memories, and cultural elements; a link with a historic territory or homeland; and a measure of
solidarity” (Anthony Smith)
 - Ethnic conflict: “a dispute about important political, economic, social, cultural or territorial
issues between two or more ethnic communities”
- explaining ethnic conflicts:
a) systemic level: the groups must reside in close proximity, national authorities must be
too weak to prevent groups from fighting; usually generated when empires collapse,
or ethnic geography changes
b) domestic level:
- they focus on he effectiveness of state in addressing the citizens’ concerns,
the impact of nationalism on interethnic relations, the impact of
democratization on interethnic relations
- Political parties tend to be organized along ethnic lines.
- Politicians tend to appeal to ethnic and nationalistic impulses.
- The state may have inadequate safeguards for minority rights
c) perceptual level
- Many ethnic groups have false histories of themselves and others – in
multiethnic states these perceptions get into conflict.
- Authoritarian regimes typically suppress ethnic histories, and manipulate
historical facts
- Ethnic nationalism leads typically to ethnic conflict
- Implications of ethnic conflict:
a) ethnic reconciliation: Ethnic groups decide to stay together under an overreaching
political and legal framework Belgium, Switzerland, Canada; Little interference by
international forces is needed.
b) ethnic separation: Groups decide to dissolve the existing legal ties – Soviet Union,
Czechoslovakia
c) Ethnic war: Ethnic groups are not be able to agree on new constitutional
arrangements or a peaceful separation
- consequences of ethnic wars: civilian slaughter, weapons of mass destruction, chain reaction
effect, refugees, consequences for international organizations
- recommendations: address problems early, help develop effective states, help groups develop
representative political institutions, insist that cultural diversity be respected, help ethnic
groups develop accurate histories of each other
- ethnic wars and refugees, implications for outside powers:
a) Accepting refugees can bring about military reprisal
b) The ethnic conflict can be imported to the accepting country
c) Accepting refugees involves high economic cost
d) Refugees can be seen as a threat to cultural identity
e) Refugees can become political forces in host countries
- refugee crises:
a) Syrian refugee crisis: the Syrian refugee crisis remains the world’s largest refugee
and displacement crisis of our time
b) The economic collapse of Venezuela
c) Conflicts in South Sudan, Myanmar, and Democratic Republic of the Congo
d) Refugee displacements from Afghanistan and Somalia date back decades
e) Invasion of Ukraine
f) 117.2 million people will be forcibly displaced or stateless in 2023, according to
UNHCR's estimations.

VI. MULTICULTURALISM CRITIQUES II

- Right wing criticism: turned diverse groups into simple categories (muslims) and questioned
whether they can be integrated
 - Multicultural policies in education
- criticism of grassroot political initiatives
- Rushdie affair
- 9/11
- after WWII: human rights evolution, decolonization, US civil rights movement, globalization
- post war developments in the UK: the British nationality act 1948 (led to an influx of
immigration”
- ”Open doors” for the Commonwealth, yet measures against people of color
- Public resistance towards nonwhite immigraton
- Tough external measures, internal accommodation (”British multiculturalism)
- Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962
- immigration Act 1971; patriality requirement
- Shift from assimilation to intergration
- 1960-1980 UK developments: reactions to multicultural policies in education (questions abt
self conception and socialization); left wing efforts to reform local government
“The muslim problem”:
- Western countries blaming multiculturalism for ”the muslim problem”
- Headscarf controversy in france
- New bipolar worldview
- Western culture under attack
- 9/11
- Seemed to provide evidence that suspicions were right
- London bombings 2005
- Homegrown extremism
- David Cameron, 2015:
- “For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you
obey the law, we will leave you alone. It’s often meant we have stood neutral between
different values. And that’s helped foster a narrative of extremism and grievance. . . . This
Government will conclusively turn the page on this failed approach. As the party of one
nation, we will govern as one nation, and bring our country together. That means actively
promoting certain values.”
IMPACT OF THE DISCOURSE OF FAILURE:
- denies immigrants a legitimate place in European society
- terminates meaningful debate about how to manage diversity through concrete forms of policy
making
- Dismisses the idea of a more open European society
Racism in the UK
- Notting Hill riots of 1958, murder in 1959 of Kelso Cochrane, 1965 Race Relations Act
- Brexit and racism: “divisive, anti-immigrant and xenophobic retoric”, hate crimes surged by
42% in england and wales immediately after the referendum

VII. ORIENTALISM AND THE POST 9/11

- Edward Said: Palestinian American academic, political activist, and literary critic, huge impact
on colonial studies
- books: The question of Palestine; The world, the text and the critic; culture and imperialism
- “Orientalism” (1978): Tracks the developments of Orientalism form the beginning of 18th
century towards through the 20th century
- Few ways to understand Orientalism:
a) Academic dicipline
b) commonplace meaning: “a style of thought based upon distinctions made between
‘the Orient’ and (most of the time) ‘the Occident’”
 c) Discourse: Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having
authority over the Orient;
- necessary to see Orientalism as a discourse to understand “the enormously systematic
discipline by which European culture was able to manage—and even produce—the Orient
politically, sociologically, militarily, ideologically, scientifically, and imaginatively”
- since Orientalism is a discourse, “the Orient was not (and is not) a free subject of thought or
action”
- the world is divided into “two unequal halves, Orient and Occident”
- But this division is largely imaginary as both the Orient as well as the Occident are
“man-made” ideas
- West has not only invented the Orient as “the Other”, but it has also defined itself as the
Orient’s “contrasting image, idea, personality, [and] experience”
- Orient was assigned features such as cruelty, violence or sadism, irrationality, sensuality or
sexual deviance, despotism, and backwardness
- While the Occident gained values and characteristics superior and manifestly different from
the Orient
- Thus, representations of the Orient, or Islam, are not “natural depictions”
- in fact, the “value, efficacy, strength, [and] apparent veracity” of these representations
depends very little on the Orient and more on the West which has created them”
- The idea of “Clash of civilizations” (Samuel Huntington) gained huge popularity after the
attacks
- Huntington divides the world into civilizations which are in conflict due to extreme value
differences
- ”War on Terror”: American-led global counterterrorism campaign launched in response to 9/11
- Afganistan War 2001-2021
- War in Iraq 2003-2011
- “At this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to
disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.” (Bush 2003)
The Department of Homeland Security
- Patriot Act: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to
Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001
- the preventive detainment of thousands of suspects
- surveillance and intelligence-gathering programs by the NSA and the FBI
- increased security measures for airports, borders, and public events
- secret searches of private property, seizures of assets, and surveillance of electronic
communications
- Impact on Muslim and Arab communities: surveillance and suspicion, a nationwide surge of
retaliatory attacks against Muslim and Arab people and their property

VIII. Contemporary immigration policies in the US (Trump and immigration from mexico)
- More than 44.9 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2019
- Most immigrants (77%) are in the country legally, while almost a quarter are unauthorized
- New arrivals more educated than the general population
- Immigrants make up 17% of the total civilian labor force
- half (53%) are proficient English speakers
- unauthorized immigrants: individuals who arrive in the United States legally and overstay their
visas comprise a significant portion of the undocumented population
- unauthorized immigrants: better at speaking English and more educated than they were a
decade ago
- New arrivals are also more likely than longer-term unauthorized immigrants to hold a college
degree
 - mexicans used to be the majority, not anymore
- us immigrants are now seen more of a strength than a burden to the country
- mexican americans: both the oldest and the newest habitants of the nation
- complex position in the U.S. legal system and in U.S. public opinion
- In 2019, Mexicans comprised 24 percent of all immigrants in the United States, a decline from
30 percent in 2000
- Government projections show that, by the next two generations, more than 25 percent of the
U.S. population will be of Latin American origin
- Trump’s immigration policies:
a) more funding for ice
b) no more “catch and release”
c) legal immigration cut in half, most categories blocked
d) the most highly skilled foreign-born blocked or denied at high rates
e) refugees and asylum seekers denied
f) naturalization slowed and ceremonies stopped for many applicants
g) increased fees for becoming a citizen
h) the muslim ban
i) attemps to end daca
j) responses: lawsuits, protests, sanctuary cities
- the number of apprehensions at the u.s.-mexico border has doubled from 2018 to 2019
- terrible conditions of the detention centers
- the wall:
a) “with mexico being one of the highest crime nations in the world, we must have the
wall. mexico will pay for it through reimbursement/other.”
b) questionable in both necessity and feasibility
c) problem of the cost
d) the lack of freedom of movement
e) threatens the ecosystem
- trump’s discourse on immigration:
a) “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said. “They’re not
sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of
problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs.
They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
(2015)
b) “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” (2018)
c) “Some people call it an ‘invasion,’” he said. “It’s like an invasion. They have violently
overrun the Mexican border.” (2018)
d) "We have people coming into the country or trying to come in, we're stopping a lot of
them, but we're taking people out of the country. You wouldn't believe how bad these
people are," "These aren't people. These are animals.“
e) “Trump’s binary worldview—good versus evil, the West versus Islam, “shithole”
countries versus those sending desirable immigrants—is present in all his
communication, from official speeches to inflammatory tweets.” (Romero 2018)

IX. Multiculturalism in education and language acquisition

Intercultural Second language acquisition:
- Language is both an area of learning in its own right and one of the major mediums through
which people learn
- language is a crucial medium through which people make meaning, and it is this
meaningmaking that characterizes learning
- culture provides a lens through which to interpret and create meaning, both in the act of
communication and in the act of learning
- “moving between”: work within at least two linguistic and cultural systems when learning an
additional language
- People bring their own linguistic and cultural biographies, their distinctive frames of reference
that come from their history of prior experiences, their meanings, and values
- mutual interpretation to negotiate their own meanings in relation to those of others
- interpreting self (intraculturality) and others (interculturality) in diverse contexts of social and
cultural exchange
- Kramsch’s symbolic competence
- Gadamer:
a) mutual process of making sense of each other’s contribution (the Subject matter) and
at the same time each other (the person)
b) learners bring their own histories of experiences, their own languages and cultures
and ways of seeing the world
c) learning means not only acquiring new knowledge and participating in communities of
users of that knowledge, but also recognizing that learning itself is interpretive and
that learners are both interpreters and creators of meaning
d) Learners are interpreting and creating meaning using the language they are learning;
at the same time and in so doing they are interpreters of another linguistic and
cultural system and learning to be themselves in this system that is not their own
- Language learning and social cohesion of vulnerable groups:
a) less than a quarter of the world’s refugees make it to secondary school, and just one
per cent progress to higher education
b) Language learning is essential for social cohesion: language builds life-skills and
resilience
c) methodologies that promote communication, preferably in mixed classes
d) Refugees and newly-arrived migrants are vulnerable people in the host countries due
to many reasons
e) Language classes as a safe space: helps to build relationships and lessen tensions
between the learners from different backgrounds
- Multicultural education:
a) all students, regardless of their social class, race, ethnicity, religion or gender
characteristics, should have an equal opportunity and freedom to learn
b) Schools should teach their students all ideas, values, rituals, and ceremonies
c) implemented to enhance tolerance, respect, understanding, awareness, and
acceptance of self and others in the diversity of their cultures
d) represents the ways in which we differ from each other and aims to understand and
accept these differences
- multicultural curriculum:
a) Provides students a lens to understand their own culture and others and connect to a
larger global community
Helps students to
b) recognize and understand the values and experiences of one’s own ethnic cultural
heritage
c) promote sensitivity to diverse ethnicities and cultures through exposure to other
cultural perspectives
d) develop awareness and respect for the similarities and differences among the diverse
groups
e) identify and challenge ethnic/cultural stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination in
behavior, textbooks and other instructional materials
- Goals of multicultural education:
 a) Gollnick & Chinn: promote the strengths and value of cultural diversity, human rights
and respect for those who are different from oneself, equity in the distribution of
power and income among groups, social justice and equality for all people, and
alternative life choices for people
b) Bennett: development of the intellectual, social, and personal growth of all students to
their highest potential and the elimination of stereotypes through the reduction of
racism and bigotry
Sleeter & Grant:
c) acquire the skills, attitudes and knowledge necessary for increasing an individual’s
ability to function effectively within a multicultural environment
d) develop the ability for seeking information about the economic, political, and social
factors of various cultures
e) provide individuals with opportunities for experiencing other cultures and recognizing
them as a source of learning and growth
f) build an awareness of an individual’s cultural heritage that provides a basis for
personal identity
g) increase tolerance and acceptance of different values, attitudes, and behaviour
- DIMENSIONS OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION (BANKS): content integration, the
knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, equity pedagogy, empowering school culture
- Multicultural education in the us:
a) began in the mid-1970s but has deep roots in the activism and scholarship of African
Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
b) Decades later, scholars and activists of other cultural groups also contributed to the
development of multicultural education
c) intercultural education movement of the 1950s, as well as ethnic, gender, and
disability studies and bilingual education (all of which followed in the 1960s), also
influenced the development of multicultural education
- The African American roots of multicultural education:
a) can be traced back to the final decades of the 19th century and first decades of the
20th in the work African American intellectuals whose work laid the foundation for the
Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s
b) Demands for universal literacy, equitable school facilities, and a a curriculum that
included the history of African Americans
c) Educational inequality, particularly segregated schooling, was a key matter for early
African American scholars and activists
d) struggle for desegregation led to the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education
decision, by which schools need to be desegregated
e) This did not happen in reality; public schools in all areas of the nation are today more
segregated than then due to housing patterns, historical tradition, and racism
- Contributions from other racial and cultural groups:
a) Scholars and activists from other racial and cultural backgrounds were also engaged
in the early development of the field
b) Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, and Native American children in particular faced
exclusion and segregation
c) This was challenged in courts
d) Landmark case Méndez v. Westminster in Orange County, California (1947) ended
the segregation of Mexican and other Latino children in California schools
- Movements towards multicultural education:
a) intercultural movement that began in the late 1920s and lasted until the late 1950s:
reform movement that included curriculum improvement, program and professional
development, and other institutional changes
 b) Ethnic studies: Began with the demand for more decision making power, the
improvement of facilities, and the inclusion of ethnic content in the curriculum
c) Bilingual education: educating children through the use of their native language while
they are also learning English; Demand for this resulted in landmark cases as the
1974 Lau v. Nichols decision, and in such legislation as the 1968 Bilingual Education
Act; Public has always been divided on this; as a result, U.S. language policies and
practices have been inconsistent
d) Other parallel movements for equality during the 1960s and 1970s resulted in gender,
queer, and disability studies

X. Multiculturalism in professional environment

- Research on workplace inequality:
a) Since 1940s, there’s been a lot of studies of social class, social stratification, and
social mobility
b) But research on how workplace policies and practices limit or promote equal
employment opportunity is relatively new
c) discipline ignored workplace racial bias prior to the 1970s
d) With the civil rights movement, racial bias became a topic
e) the research took little notice of research by psychologists on stereotypes, in-group
favoritism, conformity, and related cognitive processes that might be linked to
workplace bias
f) The ‘‘cognitive turn’’ – incorporating recent work by psychologists on stereotyping and
cognitive bias – finally came to sociology in the new millennium
g) Reskin: cognitive social psychologists’ research on automatic or implicit bias against
minorities and women provides unique insights into the causes of workplace
discrimination
h) Reskin: cognitive biases ‘‘occur independently of decision- makers’ group interests or
their conscious desire to favor or harm others’’
- Subtle bias:
a) sometimes unconscious at the level of individual action
b) unintended at the organizational level
c) unexamined by those who formulate, implement, and oversee an organization’s
human resources system
d) barriers to workplace racial diversity become embedded in workplace policies and
practices often in ways that are not often apparent to those who make personnel
decisions
- Sources of workplace racial disparities:
a) Employers create racial barriers when they make decisions about individuals’
suitability for jobs based on beliefs about a person’s race or favoritism towards their
own racial group rather than on an individual’s actual qualifications or performance
b) Employers also create racial barriers when they ignore (or encourage) an
organizational climate that is hostile towards members of racial minorities and inhibits
them from performing to their full potential
- Stereotypes, bias, and discretion:
a) Personnel decisions are vulnerable to stereotyping and bias when they are based on
the discretionary use of subjective criteria: what is a stereotype? how do stereotypes
influence?
b) decisions about members of minority groups will be based on general beliefs about
the behaviors, traits, and qualities associated with their gender or race/ethnicity
instead of the actual traits of the individuals being judged
 c) Gaertner and Dovidio: when white evaluators have discretion in how to weigh
evaluative criteria, they tend to do so selectively, in a way that biases outcomes in
favor of white ratees
d) Aversive racism: a conflict between the denial of personal prejudice and unconscious
negative feelings and beliefs
e) Discretion in the definition and weighing of evaluative criteria, even with regard to
ostensibly objective criteria, contributes to bias
f) often in a way that allows decision makers to justify to themselves and to others that
their actions are fair and nondiscriminatory
- Racial bias in performance assessment, hiring, and job satisfaction:
a) African Americans tend to receive lower performance evaluations than white people
do: successful performance by African American managers was less likely to be
attributed to ability or effort and more likely to be attributed to help from others
b) In-group favoritism; out-group bias
c) outgroup bias is likely to influence evaluative judgments made by members of the
white majority
d) African Americans also experience: higher levels of isolation and lower levels of
acceptance within the organization, lower career satisfaction, less support from
mentors
e) Referrals, word of mouth, and similar informal recruitment mechanisms perpetuate
the existing racial composition of a workforce
- Minimazing workplace bias: accountability for the process and criteria used to make
decisions, for the accuracy of the information upon which the decisions are based, and for the
consequences their actions have for equal employment opportunity
- managerial EEO accountability
- HR process accountability
- organizational EEO assessment
- workplace climate assessment
- CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE IN MANAGEMENT (BY CHRISTOPHER EARLEY):
a) manager’s ability to operate in a variety of situations over a career, whether they arise
from cross-functional assignments within a company, diverse work teams, or foreign
postings
b) This ability has at least four components: Metacognitive intelligence, cognitive
intelligence, motivational intelligence, behavioral intelligence
- Arguments for managing multicultural issues (Prof. Taylor Cox of the university of Michigan):
the cost argument, resources acquisition argument, marketing argument, creativity argument,
problem solving argument, system flexibility argument

XI. MULTICULTURALISM IN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE, POPULAR CULTURE, AND

DISCUSSIONS
- White teeth by Zadie Smith
- Travellers by Helon Habila
- The Reluctant Fundamendalist by Mohsin Hamid
- ​Media representations of racial/ethnic groups and public attitudes:
a) Research has long demonstrated the small but significant influence of media
exposure on the attitudes and beliefs of audience members
b) ethnic portrayals in entertainment media are integrated into consumers’ mental
representations of these groups
c) The results are even more consistent when examining effects of media on
stereotyping and prejudice
 d) Similarly, positive media representations of ethnic minorities can have pro-social
effects, fostering egalitarian beliefs and positive intergroup attitudes
- Frequency of representations FROM 1980s TO 2000
a) From late 1980s to late 90s, white people comprised 78.1-88 percent of the regular
characters
b) the prevalence of African American characters fluctuated between 9.6-21.6 percent
c) Other ethnic groups were nearly absent from the small screen: Native Americans
constituted the most severally underrepresented group, particularly the incongruity
between Latinx characters’ prevalence on the screen and their share of American
population is remarkably discrepant
d) Together, the results indicate that ethnic minorities are largely excluded from
primetime television.
- REPRESENTATION ON ETHNIC MINORITIES ON TV in 2010s:
a) Representation of Black people: 14% and 17% of the primetime population and
approximately 13% of the U.S. population, disproportionately featured in sitcoms and
crime dramas, getting better but some longstanding stereotypes linger
b) Representation of Latinx: approximately 16% of the population, a mere 4–6.5% of the
primetime TV population, limited set of roles
c) Other ethnic minorities: Asian Americans comprise approximately 5% of the U.S.
population and 3% of the primetime population, minor and nonrecurring roles
d) Native Americans face an unprecedented form of invisibility on television:
approximately 1% of the U.S. population, between 0.0% and 0.4% of the characters
on TV
- Quality of Representations of Ethnic Minorities:
a) Generally perceived as positive
b) The majority of Black and Latinx characters but less than a half of Asian characters
were likable
c) hyper-sexualized portrayals of Blacks and Asians were relatively scarce but almost
one in four Latinx characters were very sexual
d) Latinx characters were more likely than any other ethnic minority to have low
professional status
e) Changes in Qualities of Representations over Time: morality and likability of ethnic
minority characters remained consistent over the years, other indicators of the quality
of representations shifted from season to season, For Latinx, the increased presence
on primetime programming over time was associated with deterioration in the quality
of representation
- White Americans’ Perception of Ethnic Minorities:
a) highly professional and social Latinx characters had a significant positive effect on
white people’s attitudes toward Latinx Americans
b) The number of Latinx characters and the number of hyper-sexual Latinx characters
were associated with more negative attitudes toward the group
c) both the prevalence of Black characters and Black characters’ professional and social
status had a positive and significant effect on attitudes toward Black people
d) media-based representations are incorporated in the viewers’ mental representation
of the group as a whole sexual and unprofessional ethnic minority characters can
cultivate racial stereotypes and/or make them more salient
e) Likability of ethnic minority media figures is a necessary albeit insufficient condition
for generalizing the positive response to media characters to the group as a whole.
- the very white tv: how i met your mother, girls, friends,..
- diversity and multiculturalism in contemporary tv: the fosters, jane the virgin, dear white
people, sense 8
 - how the industry is reckoning with racism: TV episodes are being removed from streaming
services, Disclaimers have been added to outdated works, White actors are stepping down
from voicing minority characters
- History of blackface: originates from minstrel shows, but it’s actually much older than most
people know (roots in English and medieval Shakespearean theatrical traditions)
- blackfishing: White public figures, influencers etc. who try to appear Black
- Creates marketing opportunities for them; uses it as a commodity
- Wanna Thompson: creates a “dangerous paradox”, as it enables white people to participate in
black culture without taking on “the full experience of Blackness and the systemic
discrimination that comes with it”
- Leslie Bow: "a racial masquerade that operates as a form of racial fetishism"
- Cultural appropriation takes place when members of a majority group adopt cultural elements
of a minority group in an exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical way.
- cultural appropriation: the use of objects or elements of a non-dominant culture in a way that
reinforces stereotypes or contributes to oppression and doesn't respect their original meaning
or give credit to their source.

READINGS
1. Paul Claval: “Multiculturalism and the Dynamics of Modern Civilizations”
Cultures are complex and dynamic realities. They evolve constantly. They are highly
dependent on the technologies of communication upon which rests the passing over of inheritance
from individual to individual and generation to generation. The forms of modernization
characteristic of the 20th century were responsible for a rapid standardization of many aspects of
material cultures all over the World, and the substitution of a new couple of cultures (mass
cultures and technical or scientific ones) for the traditional one (low and high cultures).
The cultures present in a society are diverse, but are generally hierarchically structured. It was
the case in traditional societies, in which low cultures were up to a point controlled by high ones.
Thanks to the development of axial systems of thought, a process of civilization was in this way
introduced in the dynamics of cultures.
This process worked for a long time in all the countries in which the written word played an
important role. Western civilization was just one of these civilizations, with its special brand of
axial values. From the 18th century, a shift occured; its religious bases lost a part of its
significance. The idea of Progress gained prominence.
During the last fifty years, globalization has triggered a proliferation of multicultural
situations. At the same time, Western societies have lost what was central to their civilization
because of the crisis of the idea of Progress. In order to find a new basis for their creeds, Western
people stress the social dimension of the idea of progress, examplified, according to them, by the
ideals of democracy, human rights, multiculturalism and sound ecological management.

2. Benedict Anderson: “The Nation and the Origins of National Consciousness”

The development of print technology, with its reproducibility and dissemination of knowledge, played a
crucial role in the rise of national communities. Book publishing, as an early form of capitalist
enterprise, sought markets and created an international network of publishing houses. The market
initially targeted literate Latin readers, but as this market became saturated, attention turned to the
monoglot masses, leading to the production of cheap vernacular editions.

The author highlights three factors that contributed to the rise of national consciousness. First, the
transformation of Latin from a sacred and universal language to an esoteric language of the
intellectual elite undermined its role in the imagined community. Second, the impact of the
Reformation, facilitated by print capitalism, allowed for the rapid dissemination of religious ideas and
propaganda in vernacular languages, mobilizing new reading publics. Third, the development of
administrative vernaculars by certain monarchs, though initially independent of print and religious
changes, further eroded the imagined community of Christendom.

The author emphasizes that while linguistic diversity is a fundamental aspect of human society, it was
the interplay between capitalism, print technology, and linguistic diversity that led to the emergence of
national communities. Print languages created unified fields of exchange and communication,
facilitating comprehension among speakers of different vernaculars. Print technology also contributed
to the fixity of languages, slowing down linguistic change and creating an image of antiquity
associated with the subjective idea of the nation. Additionally, certain dialects that were assimilable to
print languages gained higher status, while others lost caste.

3. Max Weber: “What is an Ethnic Group?”

Weber begins by defining ethnic groups as social groups that are bound together by a subjective
sense of common ancestry and a shared cultural heritage. He emphasizes that ethnicity is not solely
determined by biological or racial factors but is primarily a product of subjective perceptions and
self-identification.

Weber argues that ethnic groups play a crucial role in shaping social and political dynamics. They can
serve as a basis for social solidarity, providing individuals with a sense of belonging and identity.
Ethnic groups often possess distinct cultural practices, traditions, language, and customs that
contribute to their uniqueness and strengthen their group cohesion.

Furthermore, Weber discusses how ethnic groups interact with other social groups, such as classes
and political entities. He acknowledges that ethnicity is not the sole determinant of social and political
behavior but argues that it can significantly influence social stratification, political mobilization, and the
formation of interest groups. Ethnicity can also impact economic activities and patterns of social
inequality.

Weber also highlights the significance of power relations in understanding ethnic group dynamics. He
argues that dominant groups often have more influence in shaping the collective identity and social
status of ethnic groups, while marginalized or minority groups may face discrimination and exclusion.

4. John Rex: “The Concept of a Multicultural Society”

1. The multicultural ideal is to be distinguished from the notion of a plural society.
2. In a multicultural society we should distinguish between the public domain in which there is a single
culture based upon the notion of equality between individuals and the private domain, which permits
diversity between groups.
3. The public domain includes the world of law, politics and economics. It also includes education in
far as this is concerned with selection, the transmission of skills and the perpetuation of civic culture.
4. Moral education, primary socialization and the inculcation of religious belief belong to the private
domain.
5. The structure of the private domain among immigrant minority communities includes kinship that
extends back into a homeland, a network of associations and a system of religious organization and
belief. This structure provides a valuable means in an impersonal society of providing a home and a
source of identity for individuals.
6. Nonetheless minority communities at any one time may conflict with and challenge the existing
order as have communities based upon social class in the past. The new social order of the
multicultural society is an emergent one which will result from the dialogue and the conflict between
cultures.
Is a society of this kind likely to come into being in Britain? I think not. The concept of a multicultural
society which is now in vogue is too confused for that. It might lead much more readily to 'differential
incorporation'. Moreover there are still many to whom the very idea of multiculturalism is anathema
and they would oppose the emphasis upon diversity which I have advocated. But it never was the task
of a sociologist to provide happy endings. All I can do is to clarify my value stand point and indicate
what institutional arrangements are necessary for its realization.

5. Chin, Rita. The Crisis of Multiculturalism in Europe: A History

examines the historical development and challenges faced by multiculturalism in Europe. The article
delves into the origins of multicultural policies in various European countries, exploring how they were
shaped by factors such as decolonization, labor migration, and the post-World War II context.

Chin discusses the initial optimism and goals of multiculturalism, which aimed to promote diversity,
equality, and social cohesion by recognizing and accommodating different cultural and ethnic groups
within European societies. However, she also explores the rise of criticism and opposition to
multiculturalism over time.

The article addresses the factors that have contributed to the crisis of multiculturalism in Europe,
including concerns over national identity, cultural integration, religious tensions, and issues related to
immigration and diversity. It analyzes specific events and political shifts that have influenced the
debates and policy changes surrounding multiculturalism in different European countries.

6. William T. Bielby: Promoting Racial Diversity at Work: Challenges and Solutions

White college participants (whom, relative to the general population may be
regarded as generally moderate to low prejudiced ...), give White candidates
the ‘‘benefit of the doubt,’’ a benefit they do not extend to Blacks.

7. Nieto, Sonia: “Multicultural education in the United States Historical realities, ongoing
challenges, and transformative possibilities”
discusses the concept of multicultural education in the context of the United States. The article
explores the historical background of multicultural education, examines the ongoing challenges faced
in its implementation, and explores the transformative potential of this approach to education.

Nieto delves into the historical realities of multicultural education, discussing the struggles and
achievements of marginalized communities in their quest for educational equity. The article addresses
the importance of acknowledging and valuing the diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences of
students from various racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds.

Furthermore, Nieto highlights the challenges faced by educators and policymakers in promoting
multicultural education effectively. These challenges include systemic barriers, such as
institutionalized racism, unequal resource allocation, and biased curriculum and pedagogy.

Finally, the article explores the transformative possibilities of multicultural education. It emphasizes
the need for culturally responsive teaching practices, inclusive curricula, and educational policies that
promote equity and social justice. Nieto argues that multicultural education has the potential to
empower students, foster inclusive learning environments, and contribute to a more equitable society.

8. Tomlinson, Sally: “Multicultural education in the United Kingdom”

James questioned the feasibility of multiculturalism as a valid educational idea in a society that lacks
institutions geared towards tolerant pluralism. The chapter acknowledges that Britain has long been
engaged in a contentious debate surrounding shared national identity and cultural heritage. However,
by the early 21st century, political opposition to multiculturalism, immigration, and diversity, along with
persistent post-imperial racism, had made the task of educating for a multicultural society exceedingly
difficult.
Nevertheless, the text argues that in today's fractured world, marked by increasing wealth disparity,
migration movements, and ethnic and religious conflicts, there is a growing recognition that the
policies and practices once associated with multicultural and anti-racist education have laid the
foundation for broader objectives of equality, justice, and possibly even community cohesion, despite
facing hostility from various sources. It emphasizes the importance of constructing a system that is
supported by shared political and moral values, recognizes diversity, and garners trust and
understanding from all groups. The text asserts that what is needed now is political courage and
leadership, as well as educators who transcend a narrow National Curriculum and embrace a global,
intercultural curriculum. Such an inclusive curriculum would prepare the next generation with both
marketable skills and knowledge and understanding of their multicultural and interdependent world.