Title: The limits of liberal multiculturalism : towards an individuated approach to cultural diversity /
Authors: Vitikainen, Annamari,
Year: 2015
Subjects: Multiculturalism; Cultural pluralism; Liberalism
Abstract: Why should the liberal state be concerned about people's cultural differences? How should it respond to these differences? Can culturally differentiated treatment, including the rights and exemptions of minority members, be justified within the liberal framework? And if it can, to whom should this treatment be extended? The Limits of Liberal Multiculturalism discusses cultural accomodation from the perspective of liberal political theory on the one hand, and conrete multicultural policies on the other. It explores some of the weaknesses, but also the successes, of the liberal multicultural project, and develops a new, individuated, yet culturally sensitive approach to cultural diversity. While establishing differentiated rights as legitimate policy options of the liberal state, Vitikainen turns our focus to a further question: How do we reach the actual beneficiaries of such rights? In order to track their targets, differentiated rights must be fairly allocated. This requires extending the scope of the liberal multicultural project, and applying a pluralist, individual-centred approach to allocating differentiated rights in liberal democratic societies. -- from back cover.
Contents: 1. Introduction -- Liberalism, liberal multiculturalism, and state policies -- Minority rights and membership-based allocation -- Outline of the book -- Part I: Justifying minority rights: The grand theories and their constraints -- 2. Equality and culture -- Will Kymlicka's equality-based approach to cultural diversity -- The prerequisite for choice, importance, and involuntariness arguments -- The scope of the three arguments -- Minority rights and the limitations of Kymlicka's framework -- Minority rights as promoting certain conceptions and contents of culture -- Two senses of protecting membership -- Conclusion -- 3. Autonomy versus toleration -- The limits of autonomy-liberalism -- Self-governance and imposition -- The diversity-liberal critique of autonomy -- Freedom of conscience versus autonomy -- Diversity, equality, and minority rights -- The role of the state -- Conclusion -- 4. Liberal egalitarianism and equality of opportunity --^