8.12: Glossary

• Bristol School of Multiculturalism (BSM): An emerging intellectual tradition in the United Kingdom that views society as a "community of communities" and treats individuals and groups as equally important. It emphasizes religious identity and the benefits of intercultural dialogue.
• Canadian School: A foundational intellectual tradition led by philosophers Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka. It focuses on "societal cultures" and argues that minority groups require specific group-differentiated rights and recognition to achieve fulfillment.
• Civic Integration Policies: Policies adopted by several European democracies that make it the immigrant's responsibility to demonstrate fluency in the national language and an understanding of key societal values as a precondition for residency or citizenship.
• Dialogical Subjects: A concept proposed by Charles Taylor suggesting that human beings define their identities through dialogue with others and through "rich human languages of expression".
• Good Life: A philosophical concept referring to a state beyond mere existence, where human beings achieve fulfillment, satisfaction, and meaning.
• Group-Differentiated Rights: Specific rights claimed by minority groups to address unique challenges; these are categorized into self-government rights, polyethnic rights, and special representation rights.
• Interculturalism: An integrationist alternative to multiculturalism originating in Québec. It balances an openness to diversity with a commitment to ensuring the continuity of the majority (but sub-state) culture.
• Liberal Egalitarian Multiculturalism: Will Kymlicka’s theory that advocates for the accommodation of diversity within the strict constraints of constitutional principles, individual rights, and equal opportunity.
• Majority Nation: A cultural group whose shared history, language, and values are reflected in and embodied by the state's institutions, national symbols, and ideals of citizenship.
• Minority Nation: A territorially concentrated political community that once possessed political autonomy but was forcibly incorporated into a larger state.
• Multiculturalism (Demographic): The use of the term to describe the actual racial, linguistic, and religious diversification of a society.
• Multiculturalism (Public Philosophy): A specific set of moral and ethical guidelines defining how modern societies and governments should approach and manage diversity.
• Multiculturalism (Public Policy): Specific government policies designed to formally recognize and accommodate minority cultural groups.
• Multiculturalism Policy Index (MPI): A research tool that monitors the evolution of 23 specific multiculturalism policies across 21 Western democracies to provide standardized data for comparative research.
• Muscular Liberalism: A policy alternative that rejects "state multiculturalism" in favor of instilling a common national purpose, proficiency in the national language, and interaction between diverse backgrounds to prevent extremism.
• Official Multiculturalism: A formal national mandate where a government officially recognizes the multicultural nature of its society, such as those implemented in Canada, Australia, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
• Politics of Difference: A substantive liberal approach advocated by Charles Taylor that allows for the institutionalization of multiple conceptions of the "good life" within a single democracy to ensure minority recognition.
• Polyethnic Minorities: Minority communities that emerge as a result of individual and familial immigration.
• Procedural Liberalism: An American tradition of liberalism that values the enshrinement of basic rights but believes the state should remain neutral and not institutionalize any single conception of the "good life".
• Recognition/Misrecognition: The process by which an individual's identity is defined by their dialogue with others; misrecognition occurs when society mirrors a demeaning or contemptible picture back to members of a minority group.
• Societal Culture: An intergenerational community that is more or less institutionally complete, shares a territory and language, and provides its members with a set of values and a sense of life's purpose.
• Substantive Liberalism: A framework that allows the state to pursue collective goals (such as the continuity of a minority culture) while still protecting fundamental individual rights and liberties.