COMPARING MINORITY AND MAJORITY RIGHTS: MULTICULTURAL INTEGRATION IN A POWER PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

“Multiculturalism” is a troubled concept, in a political as well as in a scholarly sense. What has triggered this paper is the authors’ experience of the hardships involved in understanding the power structures embedded in societies termed “multicultural”; we find ourselves equipped with a set of conceptual tools that are confusing, and with policy makers that compound that confusion. This presentation takes as its point of departure the tension engendered at the interface between popular democracy ground rules and minority rights, and turns in its second part to current political vocabulary in Norway. Thematically, the discussion moves from the intricacies of “cultural rights” to a closer look at the bias implicit in the benevolent phrase “fair terms of integration.” The suggestion is that hidden underneath the niceties, we find the unavoidable and seemingly unspeakable dilemmas of a welfare state confronted with non-economic, humanitarian principles. Let us be clear about one thing, however; the aim of this presentation is not to solve problems, but to face them.

Citation

Borchgrevink, T. and Brochmann, G. (2003), "COMPARING MINORITY AND MAJORITY RIGHTS: MULTICULTURAL INTEGRATION IN A POWER PERSPECTIVE", Brochmann, G. (Ed.) Multicultural Challenge (Comparative Social Research, Vol. 22), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 69-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0195-6310(03)22003-2