Documentos CIDOB Dinámicas Interculturales; 1

Using a review of the concept of multiculturalism as defined by philosophers and sociologists over the past 25 years as his starting point, and taking as points of reference the models developed in European societies, especially in the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the author focuses the objective of his analysis on the elaboration of a theory about this issue. After this historical approach, Rex discusses criticism of these theories in the framework of citizenship and the welfare state, beginning with the debate generated in different European countries around the issues of assimilation, integration and difference. The expert situates the main obstacles in education, where public and private spaces come together, and in the commitment of immigrant groups to living in the host society. In this sense, he discusses the essentialist view that considers immigrant cultures to be immobile and rigid, without taking into account the changes that have occurred in the countries of origin, the mobility of immigrants, or the transnational aspect of immigrant communities. He also discusses the reality of minorities through a look at the issue of how subnational societies manage their identities with respect to supranational units, like the European Union. And he ends his study with a defence of a multicultural policy that recognises the conflicts of ideas and interests between different groups as a means of negotiating and reaching compromises.

John Rex is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Warwick, Great Britain, member of UNESCO’s International Committe of Experts on Racism and Racial Prejudices (1967) and President of the Commission for Research on Racial and Ethnic Minorities of the International Association of Sociology (1974 – 1982). He is the author of many different publications, among which are: Social Conflict – A Theoretical and Conceptual Analysis; Race and Ethnicity; Immigrant Associations in a MultiCultural Europe y Ethnic Minorities and the Modern Nation State.

issn: 1698-2568 (print edition)
issn: 1698-5516 (online edition)

24 pp.

Download publication