Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory - Softcover

Parekh, Bhikhu

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0333608828 ISBN 13: 9780333608821

Publisher: Macmillan Pub Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

Bhikhu Parekh argues for a pluralist perspective on cultural diversity. Writing from both within the liberal tradition and outside of it as a critic, he challenges what he calls the "moral monism" of much of traditional moral philosophy, including contemporary liberalism--its tendency to assert that only one way of life or set of values is worthwhile and to dismiss the rest as misguided or false. He defends his pluralist perspective both at the level of theory and in subtle nuanced analyses of recent controversies. Thus, he offers careful and clear accounts of why cultural differences should be respected and publicly affirmed, why the separation of church and state cannot be used to justify the separation of religion and politics, and why the initial critique of Salman Rushdie (before a Fatwa threatened his life) deserved more serious attention than it received.

Rejecting naturalism, which posits that humans have a relatively fixed nature and that culture is an incidental, and "culturalism," which posits that they are socially and culturally constructed with only a minimal set of features in common, he argues for a dialogic interplay between human commonalities and cultural differences. This will allow, Parekh argues, genuinely balanced and thoughtful compromises on even the most controversial cultural issues in the new multicultural world in which we live.

About this title

About the Author

BHIKHU PAREKH is Professor of Political Theory, University of Hull. A political theorist of international renown he has held visiting chairs at many of the top US universities as well as in Vienna and Barcelona. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Baroda and a member of India's University Grants Commission in the early 1980s. On his return to the UK he became Deputy Chairman and Acting Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equalty. He is currently chair of the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain whose report will be launched by leading government ministers in autumn 2000. He was elected British Asian of the Year in 1992 and received the BBC's award for special lifetime achievement in 1999.

Review

Parekh is fair, thoughtful, fastidious and inventive in his theorizing of multiculturalism, but his viewpoint is rooted in an attempt to understand and convey a non-Western outlook. While his approach is always balanced, his first impulse is to explain and, where defensible, defend viewpoints that Western liberals have traditionally found suspect. It is a strength of this work that Parekh not only develops a brilliantly conceived theory of multiculturalism, but applies that theory meaningfully to thorny policy questions. This is a truly important and original book. (Benjamin Barber, Director, Walt Whitman Center, Rutgers)

Edition details

• Publisher: Macmillan Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0333608828
• ISBN 13: 9780333608821
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1