chapter 30
...................................................................................................................................................MULTICULTURALISM
AND ITS CRITICS
...................................................................................................................................................jeff spinner-halev
Cultural groups and group rights had not been a focal point for political
theory until the late 1980 s. The rise of nationalism in Eastern Europe after the
fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 , the attraction of communitarian thinking in the
1980 s, the increased political activism of religious conservatives in the 1980 sin
the USA, and the increase in Muslim immigrants to Western Europe in the
1970 s and afterwards, however, all brought about an enlarged interest in the
role that groups play in theory and practice. Since then liberal and non-liberal
theorists alike have become interested in a whole range of groups, arguing
whether groups can or should have rights, or something weaker like recog-
nition; and if so, what sorts of rights these groups should be granted. The
term multiculturalism can mean many things, but in this chapter I will focus
on what are called ethnocultural groups, which are often ethnic and national
cultural groups—intergenerational communities that have some shared prac-
tices and history that members believe are constitutive of the group.
- Thanks to Chaim Gans, Monique Deveaux, and Anne Phillips for comments on an earlier version
of this essay.