MULTICULTURALISM. 1. Also
cultural pluralism. Sociological terms for the co-occurrence of many cultures (including hybrid forms) in one area, as in the cities of Auckland, Bombay, London, New York, Singapore, Sydney, and Toronto.
2. A sociopolitical policy of encouraging the coexistence and growth of several cultures in one place. The term
multicultural is sometimes used as a synonym of
multiracial: ‘Although Britain has a multi-cultural society, where are the black faces among the television announcers, newscasters and sports commentators?’ (
Daily Telegraph, 20 July 1973). In recent years, the terms
multicultural,
multiculturalism,
multiculturalist, etc., have been used, both positively and negatively, to identify and discuss a movement that confronts certain perceived biases in Western and especially US society, particularly in education and on college campuses: ‘It is in its most intense and extreme form … that multiculturalism is on its way to being a major educational, social and eventually political problem. This version is propagated on our college campuses by a coalition of nationalist-racist blacks, radical feminists, “gays” and lesbians, and a handful of aspiring demagogues who claim to represent various ethnic minorities’ ( Irving Kristol,
‘The Tragedy of Multiculturalism’,
Wall Street Journal, 31 July 1991). See,
AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH,
POLITICALLY CORRECT,
SEXISM.
