Integration versus
Multiculturalism:
An outdated dichotomy
Maurizio Ambrosini, università di Milano,
Failure of multiculturalism?
• In Europe national governments are
taking the distance from a multicultural
discourse, coming back to a more
“assimilationist” approach
• This trend corresponds to the prevailing
attitudes in the public opinion and to the
growing of the topic in the political
agenda
The advent of multiculturalism
• Permanent settlement of immigrant populations
in Europe
• Movements for civil rights and for the recognition
of minorities
• Protest against the traditional assimilationist
approach
• From demand for equality to identity pride, and
the inversion of the stigma (black is beautiful)
• Islam as the main battlefield
Multiculturalism: a map of
meanings
• Analytical dimension (the multiethnic
society as a fact to understand) and
normative dimension (demand for cultural
rights)
• Moderate and more radical positions
• Multiculturalism as a strategy of inclusion
and as a strategy of differentiation
Crisis of multiculturalism?
• Multiculturalist discourses have taken a U
turn: after a peak of consensus in the ‘80’90s, they are now under attack
• Nowadays, many governments are again
emphasizing the assimilation in the
receiving society
The criticisms of
multiculturalism
• It fosters “parallel lives”, separated
communities, radical stances
• It legitimizes the oppression of women,
young people, dissenters
• It treats “cultures” as solid and
homogeneous entities; actually, they don’t
exist in such a way
Neo-assimilationism
• Assimilation: it is the policy to make
immigrants “similar” to the native
population, and even to force them to
behave as native citizens
• New emphasis on learning the national
language and on its evaluation through
examinations
• Language as test of political loyalty
Actual policies
• They have experienced a less dramatic change
• The multiculturalist rhetoric produced
modest practical interventions, that did not
deeply affect the structural dimension
(inequalities, discrimination)
• The backlash against multiculturalism , as the
emphasis on secularism, did not prevent the
development of relationships with
representatives of Islam in every country
The practical and local dimension
• Policies depicted as multiculturalist do not
differ very much, in practice, from serious
policies of integration
• The national experiences are not contrasting,
as it is commonly believed (France vs. UK)
• Now, the change of discourse has limited
practical effects
• Local policies differ from national (declared)
policies (e.g. the case of Islam in France)
The issue of “diversity”
• While the fortune of multiculturalism is
declining, many topics related to it are now
reframed under the label of “diversity”
• Diversity is more widely accepted
• It connects ethnic diversity with other
diversities: sexual, cultural, linguistic
Integration
• It could be defined as the process of becoming an
accepted component of the society
• It does not mean “assimilation”
• It implies a process of mutual adaptation
• It encompasses structural and cultural elements
(not only “interaction”)
• It gives responsibilities to both parties:
immigrants and receiving society (not only
“inclusion”)
• It occurs mainly at local level
Which future for multiculturalism
• We need another discourse, as in the case of social
cohesion: probably the idea of diversity could help
• Many multiculturalist stances can be maintained
with liberal arguments: freedom of wisdom,
freedom of association, citizenship (and double
citizenship), struggle against discrimination
• The topic of cultural rights has to be founded in
forms which should be compatible with individual
rights
• The public role of religions, as sites where norms
and values are constructed, has to be reconsidered