The Limits of American Universalism

JOHN HIGHAM'S THOUGHTFUL AND PROVOCATIVE PIECE OUTLINES THE threat that multiculturalism allegedly poses to this country's historic commitment to egalitarian principles. Higham warns that the multiculturalists' tendency to interpret injustice solely in terms of racial or cultural discrimination has obscured problems of economic inequality. He worries that multiculturalism's accent on cultural difference may invigorate a belief that intelligence, talent, and other endowments are distributed unequally among the many groups comprising American society. And he calls for a vigorous reassertion of American universalismthe eighteenth-century Enlightenment creed that emphasizes our common humanity and the pursuit of social and economic equality. At a time when racial and ethnic tensions have fueled explosions of intergroup rage from Los Angeles to Crown Heights and when patterns of economic inequality are hardening, Higham's concerns need to be taken seriously. I share his belief that we must find ways to restore questions of class inequality to our political agenda, and I am persuaded by his insistence that we cannot allow an emphasis on cultural difference to obscure our need for a common civic culture. But I am less sanguine than he that a simple rehabilitation of American universalism will restore American society to a healthier state. First, American universalism has proven to be a more limited vehicle for protesting racial discrimination and class inequality than Higham can admit. Second

Political science · Politics · Universalism · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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