What do you understand by Multiculturalism? Discuss Bhikhu Parekh’s view on Multiculturalism.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 Define multiculturalism as the active recognition and accommodation of cultural diversity — beyond mere tolerance.
Route 2 Begin with the limit of universal abstract citizenship — that ignoring difference can itself be unjust — and present multiculturalism as the response.
Multiculturalism vs tolerance, and vs value pluralism → critique of abstract universal citizenship → Will Kymlicka — three minority rights: self-government, polyethnic, representation → Charles Taylor — politics of recognition → Bhikhu Parekh, Rethinking Multiculturalism — humans are culturally constituted → non-static view — cultures revise through inter-cultural dialogue → institutions — multicultural education, affirmative action, operative public values
Susan Moller Okin — group rights can shield practices harmful to women; Amartya Sen — risk of ghettoization that reduces individuals to a single identity.
Route 1 Parekh’s contribution is a path between assimilation and relativism — recognition plus accountability to shared civic norms.
Route 2 Multiculturalism is best read as a framework of dialogue, not a licence for cultural enclosure.
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
