Towards a theory of reparative multiculturalism

Bibliographic Data

ID6255677
AuthorsFrancis Lambrecht (0000-0002-9883-274X, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume23
Issue4
Pages562-582
Publication date2023-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnicities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-7968 • E-ISSN: 1741-2706
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/14687968221149740
OpenAlexW4313523839
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited21

Contemporary liberal states must provide an answer to the “question of cultural diversity”, requiring a principled way to determine which minority cultural practices a state must accommodate and support. (Liberal egalitarian) multiculturalism answers this question neatly by creating a dichotomy between national minorities and ethnic minorities (the national/ethnic “dichotomy” ). Where national minorities are entitled to extensive and far-reaching cultural rights, ethnic minorities are entitled to significantly fewer cultural rights and accommodations. This dichotomy is enacted through a distributive logic that allocates cultural rights to achieve equal individual autonomy. But the dichotomy is also influenced by the ways these groups were incorporated into the state. Their modes of incorporation are different and, thus, they have different requirements to achieve equally autonomous lives. Critics have challenged multiculturalism by questioning this dichotomy . They have suggested that the dichotomy does not adequately capture differences in kinds of minority groups and their entitlements. This paper defends the dichotomy by offering a supplementary principle to liberal egalitarian multiculturalism: the reparative multicultural principle. This principle allocates cultural rights as part of reparative entitlements for historical and ongoing injustices committed against minority groups. Supplementing multiculturalism in this way more accurately captures the idea of the historical mode of incorporation that inspires the dichotomy and can help resolve some the objections to multiculturalism

Autonomy · Cultural diversity · Cultural group selection · Diversity (politics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Ethnic group · Human rights · Law and economics · Liberalism · Minority rights · Multiculturalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Religious Education and Schools · Religious Freedom and Discrimination

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