The Multicultural Mystique: The Liberal Case Against Diversity
Contents:
Baber questions all of this She is not jingoistic, anti-immigrant, or in any way arguing that "Western culture" is superior to every other culture.
The Multicultural Mystique: The Liberal Case against Diversity
But here's what she is questioning: She then makes a unfortunately brief case in support of an affirmative action meant to give immigrants and historically oppressed groups a type of equality of opportunity to integrate if they so choose. In the first several chapters, Baber questions whether people generally like their cultures and whether the choice to retain their native culture rather than integrate MIGHT have more to do with the high costs of integration than actual love for the native culture.
She discusses a trip to Kenya where, the more she talked with natives, the more she realized that none of them really loved Kenyan culture and all had a desire to move away from it. She discusses the many reasons why people might stay with their native cultures that have nothing to do with actual love for the culture: In fact, multiculturalism, she notes, may make exit costs even higher because a nation ingrained in multiculturalism will look oddly upon those who want to assimilate which we are told, people wouldn't do if they were self-loving.
In this way, multiculturalism can be a self-fulfilling prophecy: In the middle section of the book, the talk turns to the costs of multiculturalism by way of the "scripts" that are imposed onto people from non-dominant cultures. The author is fond of saying that there is 'no free lunch" and, by this, she means that pushing multiculturalism often imposes "scripts" onto people of particular ethnicities about what their behavior should look like and how they should be.
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And vice versa, if we pushed aggressive integration, we'd stigmatize those who may actually want to stay "traditional". But often, that is exactly what we inadvertently do to members of ethnic groups and, in the states, blacks: When I dated a black woman many years ago, she talked of the heartache that came when her black friends found that her favorite author was Charles Dickens.
The last section of the book discusses the history of multiculturalism and why my words, not the authors the genetic fallacy is responsible for our leeriness toward the word "assimilation. People were largely concerned with colonialism in the US and elsewhere, and took to a strategy where, rather than being dominated by the dominant cultural groups, minorities could just be left alone, their cultures respected rather than forcibly exterminated. It was largely aided by a self-esteem movement that taught people that feeling good about oneself was remaining "true to oneself" and that desiring to change oneself was often a sign of 'self hatred.
This, of course, is an example of the genetic fallacy - the idea that since assimilation has historically been associated with eugenics, et al.
The very brief last chapter highlights the author's vision of an affirmative action policy that would give minority groups the option - not force them - to integrate into the dominant culture. My concern with this approach is that, while I can see the author's argument, I wonder whether a policy like this "essentializes" these groups just as much as she says multiculturalism does, by giving everyone the idea that they need some artificial help to get jobs, educations, etc.
I also wonder whether policies like this are counterproductive for their risk of breeding resentment; as the author says, there is 'no free lunch'.
Most literature on multiculturalism assumes, without argument or compelling empirical evidence, that immigrants and members of ethnic minorities prefer to. Most literature on multiculturalism assumes, without argument or compelling empirical evidence, that immigrants and members of ethnic.
All in all, this is a very timely book. As a former public school teacher, I can attest to how much damage can be done when we develop different expectations for different people based on their ethnic histories, that we still expect them to cling to.
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And as a recent college instructor, I can attest to the buzz that the word "multiculturalism" has become, both for good and ill. I recall trying to explain to a colleague that Brown v. And since almost every tome against multiculturalism has been written by an "our culture is the greatest" conservative with the exception of John McWhorter's books about 'black culture' this is a book that needed to be written.
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The Multicultural Mystique: The Liberal Case against Diversity by H.E. Baber
Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — The Multicultural Mystique by H. The Liberal Case against Diversity by H. The Liberal Case against Diversity 3. Most literature on multiculturalism assumes, without argument or compelling empirical evidence, that immigrants and members of ethnic minorities prefer to identify with their ancestral cultures. According to the received view, multiculturalism benefits ethnic minorities, who want to maintain distinct cultures and keep to themselves.
And it protects them from the pressure t Most literature on multiculturalism assumes, without argument or compelling empirical evidence, that immigrants and members of ethnic minorities prefer to identify with their ancestral cultures. And it protects them from the pressure to assimilate to the majority culture.
Baber scrutinizes these assumptions in this critique of the notion of multiculturalism. Baber asks whether it could be that many, or even most, members of ethnic minorities want to shed their ethnic identities and assimilate to the dominant culture. She suggests that multiculturalism imposes ethnic scripts on minorities and thus locks them out of the opportunity to assimilate.
In effect, it becomes a form of ethnic stereotyping and discrimination. Multiculturalism, when transformed into an ideology as it often is, benefits cultural preservationists at the expense of members of ethnic minorities who wish to assimilate—arguably the majority.
Perversely, it then labels those who would resist such stereotyping as atypical, inauthentic, or even self-hating. Baber argues that liberals, or anyone who favors the expansion of individual liberty, should reject a multiculturalism that restricts personal freedom by classifying and identifying people on the basis of unchosen characteristics such as ancestry and appearance. Like all Americans, ethnic minorities should be encouraged to "invent themselves," to affiliate with groups of their own choosing and be identified as they wish.
Published July 9th by Prometheus Books first published To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Multicultural Mystique , please sign up.