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Introduction to Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship


In the Winter, 1998 semester, the first section of Sociology 304 will be based
on the book, Will Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of
Minority Rights (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995).


Kymlicka in Multicultural Citizenship focuses on both theory and on a
contemporary problem - that of multiculturalism and group rights.


 * Liberalism either inadequate or has not been able to consider group rights
   within its model. That is, the liberal model is often considered to be
   concerned exclusively with individual rights.
 * Considers issues that have been raised by social movements and individuals.
 * Attempts to provide a model and policy guidelines.
 * Many examples, of which the bulk are Canadian - Quebec, first nations,
   immigrants, ethnic groups.

Kymlicka's analysis is rooted in contemporary social analysis in that it
examines the ethnic and racial diversity of societies, and the increasing
connection among these societies (with modern forms of transportation and
communication). These increased connections have raised the issues of identity
and rights to the forefront in social movements, individual experiences, and in
public policy. His analysis is theoretical in that he considers the nature of
the individual and of culture; the meaning of freedom, liberty, the good life;
the connection between the individual and culture, groups and society; and the
nature of society as a whole (see pp. 80-81). He sets this analysis in the
liberal tradition, one that is more clearly political than sociological. At the
same time, much of sociological analysis can be considered to have emerged out
of the liberal tradition, either positively (Durkheim, Weber, Parsons) or in
reaction to some of the problems associated with liberalism (Marx). Kymlicka
develops an analysis that leads to policy implications and to implications for
the way that we look at ourselves and others, and how we as individuals, and in
groups and in society, relate to each other. In societies that will be
increasingly diverse in terms of ethnicity in the next century, these are
especially important issues to consider.


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Will Kymlicka

Professor in the Department of Philosophy, University of Ottawa and Research
Director of the Canadian Centre for Philosophy and Public Policy. Kymlicka's
writings are philosophical, but are also applied to current issues and debates.
His Liberalism, Community, and Culture analyses communitarian writers and issues
related to cultural membership. Kymlicka has written about citizenship issues
and multiculturalism for the federal government. Among the other writers he
discusses and uses are Rawls, Charles Taylor, Walzer, and Sandel. Kymlicka's
work appears to be in the area of political theory, with his work being in the
liberal tradition, attempting to defend and expand the liberal view of rights,
and the individual and society.


The arguments in Multicultural Citizenship are clear and well presented, with
many Canadian examples - aboriginal peoples, Quebec, immigrant groups, and
multiculturalism. Kymlicka's carefully reasoned arguments force the reader to
rethink his or her approach to issues related to minorities and group rights,
and deal with prejudice, misconception, and fuzzy thinking.


Click here to view the web page of Will Kymlicka. His e-mail address is
kymlicka@uottawa.ca. Will Kymlicka received his B.A. in philosophy and politics
from Queen's University in 1984, and his D.Phil in philosophy from Oxford
University in 1987. Since then, he has had research fellowships at various
universities in the United States (Princeton), Canada (Queen's; Toronto;
Ottawa), and overseas (European University Institute). He is the author of three
books published by Oxford University Press: Liberalism, Community, and Culture
(1989), Contemporary Political Philosophy (1990), and Multicultural Citizenship
(1995), which was awarded the Macpherson Prize by the Canadian Political Science
Assocation, and the Bunche Award by the American Political Science Association.
He is also the editor of Justice in Political Philosophy (Elgar, 1992), The
Rights of Minority Cultures (Oxford, 1995), and Ethnicity and Group Rights (NYU,
1997). He is currently Visiting Professor of Philosophy at both the University
of Ottawa and Carleton University, and coordinator of a SSHRC-funded research
network on "Citizenship, Democracy and Identity in a Multiethnic State".

The CCPPP Project on Citizenship, Democracy and Ethnocultural Diversity

Professor Kymlicka edits and distributes a quarterly electronic newsletter
updating recent developments in the field, of which eight issues have now been
produced. The newsletter contains information about upcoming conferences, recent
publications, journals, internet resources, and related research programs. The
full text of the eight back-issues and other parts of the project can be viewed
at the website of the Project on Citizenship, Democracy and Ethnocultural
Diversity .

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Selection of Book. I came across the book by chance, but it appeared to be
closely connected to some of the research that I was working on. In 1992-3, I
coordinated a research study of fifty-five individuals who had arrived in Regina
as refugees from Southeast Asia, Central America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle
East. This study asked these people about a great variety of issues related to
their past, their arrival in Canada, their settlement, and their views on a
number of immigration and settlement related issues. Among these were English
language knowledge and acquisition, labour force history, health related issues,
and family and community issues. The aim of the project was to determine some of
the barriers faced by these immigrants, with a view to improving the welcoming,
settlement, and integration process. This resulted in a report Refugee
Settlement and Integration in Regina, 1995. Note that immigration and refugee
arrivals are not great in number in Saskatchewan, but are steady and
non-negligible.


Among the issues that we asked these immigrants to comment on was
mutliculturalism. We asked the immigrants whether they were aware of the policy
of multiculturalism, and if so, "what does multiculturalism mean to you."
Thirty-four of the fifty-five said that they were aware of multiculturalism and
volunteered a meaning for it. We had not analyzed these comments until the
summer of 1996. Christopher Fries, a Sociology honours student, and I examined
these comments in detail last summer and wrote a paper "A 'Great' Large Family:
Understandings of Multiculturalism Among Newcomers to Canada," which we
presented at the National Symposium on Immigration and Integration in Winnipeg
in October, 1996.


As part of this section of the course, we will look at the comments and the
issues raised in this paper. In the process of working on the issue of
multiculturalism, I came across Kymlicka's book and found it useful. In
addition, our Department had become part of the Prairie Centre of Excellence for
Research on Immigration and Integration, centred in Edmonton. Multiculturalism
seemed closely connected to research in this area.


Outline of Multicultural Citizenship


Cultural diversity has become a central feature of contemporary society, and
seems likely to become more so in the immediate future. Increasing contact among
societies as a result of improved communication and transportation has made for
population movements and population change. Increased diversity in Canada is the
result of changed patterns of immigration, with many more people of colour
immigrating to Canada. Ethnocultural conflicts have become the main type of
political violence around the world - Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Eastern Europe and
Central Asia, Middle East, etc.


Political and social action of various ethnic/minority groups have made their
presence felt. In Canada, first nations peoples have become more politically
active and have demanded that their requests be honoured. The issue of the
relations between Quebec and Canada have dominated much political discussion in
Canada in recent years. This raises the issue of rights for individuals and
groups who feel that they have not been equitably or justly treated. What are
these rights, how extensive are they, and do they adhere to the group or just
the individual? Finally, government policy and programs have changed in an
attempt to deal with some of these demographic, social, and political changes.
Policies related to immigration, land claims, self-government, language, and
customs have all changed in recent years. The multicultural policy of Canada is
a notable example.


Multicultural and multiculturalism have been used in various ways. One approach
is to include the "perspectives of women, minorities, and non-Western cultures
in recognition of the increasingly diverse character of life in modern Western
societies." (The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism).
Viewed this way, all the social categories of Folbre could be included. While
Kymlicka's approach might be extended to include all of these, his focus is on
ethnocultural groups - ethnic groups, national minorities, nations, and peoples.
Part of the next section will be to define and understand what these mean -
these are some of the most confusing aspects of contemporary theory, partly
because of the variety of meanings and the politically charged atmosphere that
is part of the discussion of these.


Liberal theory. Kymlicka sets his analysis firmly within the tradition of
liberalism. This is the political theoretical counterpart of neoclassical
economics. That is, liberalism looks on the individual as autonomous and able to
act. Emphasis is placed on "individual freedom, whether defined as freedom from
coercion, as moral self-determination, or as the right to individual happiness"
(Seidman, p. 15). Tolerance and respect for the rights of others are part of
this, so that pluralism in social and political affairs is a necessary feature
of a liberal society. Freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, freedom of
association are some of the rights that have typically been associated with
liberalism and liberal democracies. As a political philosophy, liberalism has
often been seen as "primarily concerned with the relationship between the
individual and the state, and with limiting state intrusions on the liberties of
citizens" (Kymlicka, Liberalism, p. 1).


Individualism and individual rights are often viewed as the defining
characteristic of liberalism, so that there are minimal or no group rights that
are part of collectivities. All rights adhere to the individual, and liberalism
has often been criticized for being excessively individualistic. In contrast,
Kymlicka argues that "liberalism also contains a broader account of the
relationship between the individual and society - and, in particular, of the
individual's membership in a community and a culture" (Kymlicka, Liberalism, p.
1). It is this argument that Kymlicka pursues in Multicultural Citizenship, and
where he argues that group rights are part of liberal thought. Group rights can
be viewed as admissible within liberalism and even necessary for freedom and
equality.


Kymlicka distinguishes two types of ethnocultural groups - (i) national
minorities in multination states and (ii) ethnic groups in polyethnic states. A
particular state could be a combination of these, as is Canada. Most states have
aspects of each, although Canada is more clearly an example of a country with at
least two national minorities and many ethnic groups.


National minorities are groups that have in common some or all of history,
community, territory, language, or culture. Each of these is sometimes referred
to as a nation, people, or culture. Each of these may have become a minority
involuntarily through conquest, colonization, or expansion, or it could have
voluntarily agreed to enter a federation with one or more other nations,
peoples, or cultures. Kymlicka defines national minorities in terms of culture,
and argues that if these minorities wish to retain their cultures, they should
be recognized as distinct. The group rights that may be associated with national
minorities are self-government rights or special representation rights. While
these have to be worked out on a case by case basis, Kymlicka makes a strong
case for these rights where national minorities have a claim to be peoples or
cultures. For Kymlicka these are not temporary rights, but are rights that
should be recognized on a permanent basis, because these are inherent rights of
the national minority. Of course, these groups could decide to secede, and this
may be the best solution in some cases. But in other cases, it may be possible
to accommodate the rights of national minorities through a combination of
self-government and special representation rights.


Polyethnic Rights. In contrast, Kymlicka argues that immigrant groups are
generally ethnic groups, and can be accorded what he calls polyethnic rights in
a polyethnic state. Kymlicka notes that immigration is voluntary (he deals
separately with the issue of refugees) and argues that immigrants generally wish
to integrate into the society and culture that they enter. At the same time,
they may wish to retain some aspects of their culture, and retention of these is
especially important to them. Among the rights that Kymlicka argues could be
given to these ethnic groups are policies related to ending racism and
discrimination, education, some types of affirmative action, exemption from some
rules which may violate religious practices, and public funding of cultural
practices.


Culture. Why such rights are so important to national minorities and ethnic
groups is outlined in Chapter 5 and is related to culture. Kymlicka has many
useful comments concerning the meaning of culture and the importance of culture
for individuals. The particular culture that is discusses is societal culture,
the history, traditions, and conventions that go along with the society, and the
set of social practices and institutions that are associated with the societal
culture. Culture of origin provides a basic resource for people, and integration
into a new culture is difficult for people. In these circumstances, it may be
important to strengthen the culture and provide protections for various minority
groups. But note that this leads in quite different directions for national
minorities than for immigrant ethnic groups. That latter generally wish to
integrate, the protections may not need be permanent, and are often fairly
limited. For national minorities, the argument may lead in the direction of
strengthening their societal culture, as a permanent feature, with extensive
self-government rights. Kymlicka does not argue for self-government rights for
ethnic groups.


Problems. Kymlicka does not shy away from dealing with problem cases and
examples which do not fit his approach. He recognizes that each group, or parts
of groups, may require different types of treatment. One example is
African-Americans in the United States - neither a voluntary immigrant group nor
a national minority. In general, African-Americans have desired integration and
an extension of full individual rights to them, rather than requesting group
rights. A second group that may not fit is refugees, who leave their country and
culture involuntarily, and may or may not wish to enter the culture of the new
country where they find refuge. Some may wish to return to their country of
origin, others may become more similar to voluntary immigrants. Note though that
in the Regina Refugee Study, there were a number of refugees for whom Canada did
not seem to be the first choice, and who were quite unhappy with their situation
here.


Illiberal Cultures. A considerable part of the discussion involves illiberal
cultures and how liberals can deal with them. These are cultures which limit the
liberty of members and where respect for individual freedom of choice is limited
or nonexistent. These could be national minorities or societal cultures that
people decide to leave when they become immigrants. Both groups may try to
maintain illiberal traditions in North America. Being a liberal, Kymlicka does
not agree with these traditions and practices, but argues that if national
minorities are to be self-governing, then liberals cannot selectively intervene
on some of these issues. This is an important policy point, because some first
nations groups may argue that they should not be subject to the Charter and to
Canadian courts if they are to be truly self-governing. For ethnic groups,
maintaining such practices is inconsistent with integration into a liberal
society. For example, treatment of girls and women within some cultures seems
inappropriate - customs like arranged marriage, female circumcision, etc. For
these groups, Kymlicka argues that internal restrictions on group members be
limited or nonexistent. He argues for external protections for these groups, but
that liberal rights should exist for individuals within these groups.


Liberal Tradition. Kymlicka notes that the liberal tradition is not exclusively
individualistic, but that this exclusive focus on individualism is of recent
origin. He argues that all liberal societies recognize group rights in some form
- even the United States, where liberal democracy is considered most dominant.
There, Kymlicka notes that the rights of aboriginal peoples and native Hawaiians
may differ from those of other Americans. One of the ways that liberals
considered groups to be important was through recognition of the nation-state as
the basic unit of society. John Stuart Mill, one of the most consistently
liberal political theorists argued that a liberal system of self-rule would work
only if the population constituted a national group or a single background.
Nineteenth century liberals generally supported assimilation of minority groups,
colonization, and imperialist expansion.


The Marxist and socialist tradition in the nineteenth century was little
different, with the assumption that the great powers - France, Britain, Germany
- should be nation-states, but that small nationalities should disappear. More
recently socialists have adopted a variety of different approaches, but many of
these have the same problem as noted by Folbre, they emphasize class and the
achievement of socialism over the cultural and national issues. Many assume that
these issues are part of ideology that is used by the economically and
politically powerful to divide the weak and oppressed. As a result, the
socialist tradition does not have a strong theory of culture.


In Chapter 8, issues of tolerance within the liberal tradition are addressed. By
requiring freedom within and equality between groups, Kymlicka's approach may
fall into the same trap that Mill and Marx did. Some have questioned on what
basis liberal emphases on individual rights could be forced on cultures that do
not have such a tradition. Kymlicka argues that liberals cannot force such
traditions on other countries, and should go easy on attempting to enforce such
individual rights in national minorities. However, for ethnic groups that
voluntarily come to a liberal, democratic country, and who wish to integrate
into such a society, requiring recognition of individual rights in these groups
does not seem unreasonable. In fact, rights such as those in the Charter may
generally be supported by such immigrant, ethnic groups and individuals in those
groups.


Basis for group rights. As a basis for group rights, Kymlicka makes two
arguments. The equality argument is that some minority rights actually increase
equality, and that true equality requires different treatment for different
groups. The problem is that depriving groups of rights such as language and
access to land may leave a group culturally disadvantaged, and unable to fully
participate in society. Examples include land and fishing rights for aboriginal
people, imposing few restrictions on the minority but having an especially
important impact on improving the position of aboriginal people. Part of the
argument here is that the state cannot be culturally neutral, there is usually
an official language, has particular procedures used in the exercise of power,
and determines boundaries that my affect representation for communities of
interest. With respect to polyethnic rights, holidays, work week scheduling,
education, and public symbols may all present problems for some ethnic groups.


Historical agreements such as treaties, terms of federation, agreement
concerning boundaries and use of language should be recognized, especially for
national minorities. This may create problems for groups that never did cede
control, and there the equality argument would have to be used. Some difficult
cases such as the Hutterites may emerge here, where promises were made many
years ago, and where internal restrictions are severe. Note that individuals in
these groups do have the possibility of exit, but when doing so may be severely
disadvantaged culturally and economically.


Cultural diversity is a third argument that is sometimes used to argue for
special minority rights. Kymlicka is generally skeptical of these, arguing that
national minority rights may do little to increase diversity within the majority
culture, and could even reduce diversity. For example, it would seem that
special rights for Quebec might reduce cultural diversity in Western Canada. The
argument here is that one has to be clear concerning diversity within a culture
as opposed to diversity between cultures. For the majority, increased cultural
diversity is likely a positive development, but this is diversity within the
culture. This can be achieved, and presently is occurring, by having more
immigrant groups integrate into the majority culture.


Note that group rights adhere not just to the national minority or ethnic groups
but may be part of the rights of individuals in these groups. For example,
special land rights for aboriginal people may be part of the rights of the
aboriginal group. But hunting and fishing rights may be primarily important for
individuals in these groups. Similarly, allowing Sikhs to avoid wearing
motorcycle helmets is a special right that individual Sikhs may wish to
exercise.


Representation is deal with in Chapter 7. This is a more specifically political
issue, in that the types of formal representation and the types of groups
represented in political bodies is discussed there.


Solidarity and social unity in the nation state. Chapter 9 deals with these
issues, and may seem to be a pessimistic conclusion to an otherwise optimistic
approach. For ethnic groups, integration is key, and many newcomers are among
the most committed citizens. In Canada, through multiculturalism, these
newcomers are tolerant of and welcome diversity, and seek to work to create a
better society. With respect to ethnocultural minorities, Kymlicka is very
optimistic in terms of creating a shared civic identity. Where he is more
pessimistic is with respect to national minorities. While he supports group
rights for these, he also recognizes that these rights are inherently divisive,
are not integrative, and do not suport the same sense of shared civic identity.
Kymlicka does note though that as a liberal, if a group wishes to separate, and
members of the group consider that this improves their situation, the liberal
solution would be to permit or encourage separation. Finally, Kymlicka notes
that the shared identity associated with the nation state may be difficult to
develop in a multination, polyethnic state like Canada. In fact, he refers to
Canada as having a situation of deep diversity, with diverse cultural groups and
diverse ways of belonging. He presents no magic solution or national goals, but
argues that we have to work at developing the sense of shared identity if we
want Canada to stay intact.


List of Some Possible Applications of Multicultural Citizenship


1. Practical Importance

 * For Canada and world.
 * Increased immigration and population movement around world.
 * Globalization.
 * Diversity or common global culture - global village?
 * Diversity within ethnic groups - See analysis of Peter Li
 * Issues important for individuals and for collective identity.
 * Important for policies related to national minorities and immigrants.
 * Freedom, justice, equality and inequality.
 * Liberalism - dying ideology or basis of current and future society.
 * Multiculturalism.
 * Future outcomes for polyethnic, multination societies?
   

2. Theoretical Importance

 * Political theory. No doubt of importance of these.
 * Look for sociological implications and applications.
 * Nature of individual and collective identity (see analysis of Folbre in next
   section of class).
 * Interdisciplinary - politics, philosophy, and sociology.
 * Liberalism and origins of sociology.
 * Social order, individualism, and groups.

3. Specific Theoretical Issues

 * Culture - not theorized well in sociology.
 * Integration - various meanings, approaches, and implications
 * Nation, people, ethnicity, community, imagined community, national minority
 * Collective identity and structure-agency
 * Rights and group rights
 * Various meanings of multiculturalism.
   

These notes were originally written for class on February 13, 1997. They were
last edited on December 23, 1997.

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