multicultural essay

Cultural Diversity Essay & Community Essay Examples

If you’ve started to research college application requirements for the schools on your list, you might have come across the “cultural diversity essay.” In this guide, we’ll explore the cultural diversity essay in depth. We will compare the cultural diversity essay to the community essay and discuss how to approach these kinds of supplements. We’ll also provide examples of diversity essays and community essay examples. But first, let’s discuss exactly what a cultural diversity essay is. 

The purpose of the cultural diversity essay in college applications is to show the admissions committee what makes you unique. The cultural diversity essay also lets you describe what type of “ diversity ” you would bring to campus.

We’ll also highlight a diversity essay sample for three college applications. These include the Georgetown application essay , Rice application essay , and Williams application essay . We’ll provide examples of diversity essays for each college. Then, for each of these college essays that worked, we will analyze their strengths to help you craft your own essays. 

Finally, we’ll give you some tips on how to write a cultural diversity essay that will make your applications shine. 

But first, let’s explore the types of college essays you might encounter on your college applications. 

Types of College Essays

College application requirements will differ among schools. However, you’ll submit one piece of writing to nearly every school on your list—the personal statement . A strong personal statement can help you stand out in the admissions process. 

So, how do you know what to write about? That depends on the type of college essay included in your college application requirements. 

There are a few main types of college essays that you might encounter in the college admissions process. Theese include the “Why School ” essay, the “Why Major ” essay, and the extracurricular activity essay. This also includes the type of essay we will focus on in this guide—the cultural diversity essay. 

“Why School” essay

The “Why School ” essay is exactly what it sounds like. For this type of college essay, you’ll need to underscore why you want to go to this particular school. 

However, don’t make the mistake of just listing off what you like about the school. Additionally, don’t just reiterate information you can find on their admissions website. Instead, you’ll want to make connections between what the school offers and how you are a great fit for that college community. 

“Why Major” essay

The idea behind the “Why Major ” essay is similar to that of the “Why School ” essay above. However, instead of writing about the school at large, this essay should highlight why you plan to study your chosen major.

There are plenty of directions you could take with this type of essay. For instance, you might describe how you chose this major, what career you plan to pursue upon graduation, or other details.

Extracurricular Activity essay

The extracurricular activity essay asks you to elaborate on one of the activities that you participated in outside of the classroom. 

For this type of college essay, you’ll need to select an extracurricular activity that you pursued while you were in high school. Bonus points if you can tie your extracurricular activity into your future major, career goals, or other extracurricular activities for college. Overall, your extracurricular activity essay should go beyond your activities list. In doing so, it should highlight why your chosen activity matters to you.

Cultural Diversity essay

The cultural diversity essay is your chance to expound upon diversity in all its forms. Before you write your cultural diversity essay, you should ask yourself some key questions. These questions can include: How will you bring diversity to your future college campus? What unique perspective do you bring to the table? 

Another sub-category of the cultural diversity essay is the gender diversity essay. As its name suggests, this essay would center around the author’s gender. This essay would highlight how gender shapes the way the writer understands the world around them. 

Later, we’ll look at examples of diversity essays and other college essays that worked. But before we do, let’s figure out how to identify a cultural diversity essay in the first place. 

How to identify a ‘cultural diversity’ essay

So, you’re wondering how you’ll be able to identify a cultural diversity essay as you review your college application requirements. 

Aside from the major giveaway of having the word “diversity” in the prompt, a cultural diversity essay will ask you to describe what makes you different from other applicants. In other words, what aspects of your unique culture(s) have influenced your perspective and shaped you into who you are today?

Diversity can refer to race, ethnicity, first-generation status, gender, or anything in between. You can write about a myriad of things in a cultural diversity essay. For instance, you might discuss your personal background, identity, values, experiences, or how you’ve overcome challenges in your life. 

However, don’t feel limited in what you can address in a cultural diversity essay. The words “culture” and “diversity” mean different things to different people. Above all, you’ll want your diversity essays for college to be personal and sincere. 

How is a ‘community’ essay different? 

A community essay can also be considered a cultural diversity essay. In fact, you can think of the community essay as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. However, there is a key difference between a community essay and a cultural diversity essay, which we will illustrate below. 

You might have already seen some community essay examples while you were researching college application requirements. But how exactly is a community essay different from a cultural diversity essay?

One way to tell the difference between community essay examples and cultural diversity essay examples is by the prompt. A community essay will highlight, well, community . This means it will focus on how your identity will shape your interactions on campus—not just how it informs your own experiences.

Two common forms to look out for

Community essay examples can take two forms. First, you’ll find community essay examples about your past experiences. These let you show the admissions team how you have positively influenced your own community. 

Other community essay examples, however, will focus on the future. These community essay examples will ask you to detail how you will contribute to your future college community. We refer to these as college community essay examples.

In college community essay examples, you’ll see applicants detail how they might interact with their fellow students. These essays may also discuss how students plan to positively contribute to the campus community. 

As we mentioned above, the community essay, along with community essay examples and college community essay examples, fit into the larger category of the cultural diversity essay. Although we do not have specific community essay examples or college community essay examples in this guide, we will continue to highlight the subtle differences between the two. 

Before we continue the discussion of community essay examples and college community essay examples, let’s start with some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts. For each of the cultural diversity essay prompts, we’ll name the institutions that include these diversity essays for college as part of their college application requirements. 

What are some examples of ‘cultural diversity’ essays? 

Now, you have a better understanding of the similarities and differences between the cultural diversity essay and the community essay. So, next, let’s look at some examples of cultural diversity essay prompts.

The prompts below are from the Georgetown application, Rice application, and Williams application, respectively. As we discuss the similarities and differences between prompts, remember the framework we provided above for what constitutes a cultural diversity essay and a community essay. 

Later in this guide, we’ll provide real examples of diversity essays, including Georgetown essay examples, Rice University essay examples, and Williams supplemental essays examples. These are all considered college essays that worked—meaning that the author was accepted into that particular institution. 

Georgetown Supplementals Essays

Later, we’ll look at Georgetown supplemental essay examples. Diversity essays for Georgetown are a product of this prompt: 

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you. 

You might have noticed two keywords in this prompt right away: “diverse” and “community.” These buzzwords indicate that this prompt is a cultural diversity essay. You could even argue that responses to this prompt would result in college community essay examples. After all, the prompt refers to the Georgetown community. 

For this prompt, you’ll want to produce a diversity essay sample that highlights who you are. In order to do that successfully, you’ll need to self-reflect before putting pen to paper. What aspects of your background, personality, or values best describe who you are? How might your presence at Georgetown influence or contribute to their diverse community? 

Additionally, this cultural diversity essay can be personal or creative. So, you have more flexibility with the Georgetown supplemental essays than with other similar diversity essay prompts. Depending on the direction you go, your response to this prompt could be considered a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or a college community essay. 

Rice University Essays

The current Rice acceptance rate is just 9% , making it a highly selective school. Because the Rice acceptance rate is so low, your personal statement and supplemental essays can make a huge difference. 

The Rice University essay examples we’ll provide below are based on this prompt: 

The quality of Rice’s academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? 

Breaking down the prompt.

Like the prompt above, this cultural diversity essay asks about your “life experiences,” “cultural traditions,” and personal “perspectives.” These phrases indicate a cultural diversity essay. Keep in mind this may not be the exact prompt you’ll have to answer in your own Rice application. However, future Rice prompts will likely follow a similar framework as this diversity essay sample.

Although this prompt is not as flexible as the Georgetown prompt, it does let you discuss aspects of Rice’s academic life and Residential College System that appeal to you. You can also highlight how your experiences have influenced your personal perspective. 

The prompt also asks about how you would contribute to life at Rice. So, your response could also fall in line with college community essay examples. Remember, college community essay examples are another sub-category of community essay examples. Successful college community essay examples will illustrate the ways in which students would contribute to their future campus community. 

Williams Supplemental Essays

Like the Rice acceptance rate, the Williams acceptance rate is also 9% . Because the Williams acceptance rate is so low, you’ll want to pay close attention to the Williams supplemental essays examples as you begin the writing process. 

The Williams supplemental essays examples below are based on this prompt: 

Every first-year student at Williams lives in an Entry – a thoughtfully constructed microcosm of the student community that’s a defining part of the Williams experience. From the moment they arrive, students find themselves in what’s likely the most diverse collection of backgrounds, perspectives, and interests they’ve ever encountered. What might differentiate you from the 19 other first-year students in an Entry? What perspective would you add to the conversation with your peer(s)?

Reflecting on the prompt.

Immediately, words like “diverse,” “backgrounds,” “perspectives,” “interests,” and “differentiate” should stand out to you. These keywords highlight the fact that this is a cultural diversity essay. Similar to the Rice essay, this may not be the exact prompt you’ll face on your Williams application. However, we can still learn from it.

Like the Georgetown essay, this prompt requires you to put in some self-reflection before you start writing. What aspects of your background differentiate you from other people? How would these differences impact your interactions with peers? 

This prompt also touches on the “student community” and how you would “add to the conversation with your peer(s).” By extension, any strong responses to this prompt could also be considered as college community essay examples. 

Community Essays

All of the prompts above mention campus community. So, you could argue that they are also examples of community essays. 

Like we mentioned above, you can think of community essays as a subcategory of the cultural diversity essay. If the prompt alludes to the campus community, or if your response is centered on how you would interact within that community, your essay likely falls into the world of college community essay examples. 

Regardless of what you would classify the essay as, all successful essays will be thoughtful, personal, and rich with details. We’ll show you examples of this in our “college essays that worked” section below. 

Which schools require a cultural diversity or community essay? 

Besides Georgetown, Rice, and Williams, many other college applications require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. In fact, from the Ivy League to HBCUs and state schools, the cultural diversity essay is a staple across college applications. 

Although we will not provide a diversity essay sample for each of the colleges below, it is helpful to read the prompts. This will build your familiarity with other college applications that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay. Some schools that require a cultural diversity essay or community essay include New York University , Duke University , Harvard University , Johns Hopkins University , and University of Michigan . 

New York University

NYU listed a cultural diversity essay as part of its 2022-2023 college application requirements. Here is the prompt:

NYU was founded on the belief that a student’s identity should not dictate the ability for them to access higher education. That sense of opportunity for all students, of all backgrounds, remains a part of who we are today and a critical part of what makes us a world class university. Our community embraces diversity, in all its forms, as a cornerstone of the NYU experience. We would like to better understand how your experiences would help us to shape and grow our diverse community.

Duke university.

Duke is well-known for its community essay: 

What is your sense of Duke as a university and a community, and why do you consider it a good match for you? If there’s something in particular about our offerings that attracts you, feel free to share that as well.

A top-ranked Ivy League institution, Harvard University also has a cultural diversity essay as part of its college application requirements: 

Harvard has long recognized the importance of student body diversity of all kinds. We welcome you to write about distinctive aspects of your background, personal development, or the intellectual interests you might bring to your Harvard classmates.

Johns hopkins university.

The Johns Hopkins supplement is another example of a cultural diversity essay: 

Founded in the spirit of exploration and discovery, Johns Hopkins University encourages students to share their perspectives, develop their interests, and pursue new experiences. Use this space to share something you’d like the admissions committee to know about you (your interests, your background, your identity, or your community), and how it has shaped what you want to get out of your college experience at Hopkins. 

University of michigan.

The University of Michigan requires a community essay for its application: 

Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong and describe that community and your place within it. 

Community essay examples.

The Duke and Michigan prompts are perfect illustrations of community essay examples. However, they have some critical differences. So, if you apply to both of these schools, you’ll have to change the way you approach either of these community essays. 

The Duke prompt asks you to highlight why you are a good match for the Duke community. You’ll also see this prompt in other community essay examples. To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to reference offerings specific to Duke (or whichever college requires this essay). In order to know what to reference, you’ll need to do your research before you start writing. 

Consider the following questions as you write your diversity essay sample if the prompt is similar to Duke University’s

• What values does this college community have? 
• How do these tie in with what you value? 
• Is there something that this college offers that matches your interests, personality, or background?  

On the other hand, the Michigan essay prompt asks you to describe a community that you belong to as well as your place within that community. This is another variation of the prompt for community essay examples. 

To write a successful response to this prompt, you’ll need to identify a community that you belong to. Then, you’ll need to think critically about how you interact with that community. 

Below are some questions to consider as you write your diversity essay sample for colleges like Michigan: 

• Out of all the communities you belong to, which can you highlight in your response? 
• How have you impacted this community? 
• How has this community impacted you?

Now, in the next few sections, we’ll dive into the Georgetown supplemental essay examples, the Rice university essay examples, and the Williams supplemental essays examples. After each diversity essay sample, we’ll include a breakdown of why these are considered college essays that worked. 

Georgetown Essay Examples

As a reminder, the Georgetown essay examples respond to this prompt: 

As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you.

Here is the excerpt of the diversity essay sample from our Georgetown essay examples: 

Georgetown University Essay Example

The best thing I ever did was skip eight days of school in a row. Despite the protests of teachers over missed class time, I told them that the world is my classroom. The lessons I remember most are those that took place during my annual family vacation to coastal Maine. That rural world is the most authentic and incredible classroom where learning simply happens and becomes exponential. 

Years ago, as I hunted through the rocks and seaweed for seaglass and mussels, I befriended a Maine local hauling her battered kayak on the shore. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I had found a kindred spirit in Jeanne. Jeanne is a year-round resident who is more than the hard working, rugged Mainer that meets the eye; reserved and humble in nature, she is a wealth of knowledge and is self-taught through necessity. With thoughtful attention to detail, I engineered a primitive ramp made of driftwood and a pulley system to haul her kayak up the cliff. We diligently figured out complex problems and developed solutions through trial and error.

After running out of conventional materials, I recycled and reimagined items that had washed ashore. We expected to succeed, but were not afraid to fail. Working with Jeanne has been the best classroom in the world; without textbooks or technology, she has made a difference in my life. Whether building a basic irrigation system for her organic garden or installing solar panels to harness the sun’s energy, every project has shown me the value of taking action and making an impact. Each year brings a different project with new excitement and unique challenges. My resourcefulness, problem solving ability, and innovative thinking have advanced under her tutelage. 

While exploring the rocky coast of Maine, I embrace every experience as an unparalleled educational opportunity that transcends any classroom environment. I discovered that firsthand experience and real-world application of science are my best teachers. In school, applications of complex calculations and abstract theories are sometimes obscured by grades and structure. In Maine, I expand my love of science and renourish my curious spirit. I am a highly independent, frugal, resilient Mainer living as a southern girl in NC. 

Why this essay worked

This is one of the Georgetown supplemental essay examples that works, and here’s why. The author starts the essay with an interesting hook, which makes the reader want to learn more about this person and their perspective. 

Throughout the essay, the author illustrates their intellectual curiosity. From befriending Jeanne and creating a pulley system to engineering other projects on the rocky coast of Maine, the author demonstrates how they welcome challenges and work to solve problems. 

Further, the author mentions values that matter to them—taking action and making an impact. Both facets are also part of Georgetown’s core values . By making these connections in their essay, the author shows the admissions committee exactly how they would be a great fit for the Georgetown community. 

Finally, the author uses their experience in Maine to showcase their love of science, which is likely the field they will study at Georgetown. Like this writer, you should try to include most important parts of your identity into your essay. This includes things like life experiences, passions, majors, extracurricular activities for college, and more. 

Rice University Essay Examples

The Rice University essay examples are from this prompt: 

The quality of Rice’s academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? (500-word limit)

Rice university essay example.

Like every applicant, I also have a story to share. A story that makes me who I am and consists of chapters about my life experiences and adventures. Having been born in a different country, my journey to America was one of the most difficult things I had ever experienced. Everything felt different. The atmosphere, the places, the food, and especially the people. Everywhere I looked, I saw something new. Although it was a bit overwhelming, one thing had not changed.

The caring nature of the people was still prevalent in everyday interactions. I was overwhelmed by how supportive and understanding people were of one another. Whether it is race, religion, or culture, everyone was accepted and appreciated. I knew that I could be whoever I wanted to be and that the only limitation was my imagination. Through hard work and persistence I put my all in everything that I did. I get this work ethic from my father since he is living proof that anything can be accomplished with continued determination. Listening to the childhood stories he told me, my dad would reminisce about how he was born in an impoverished area in a third world country during a turbulent and unpredictable time.

Even with a passion for learning, he had to work a laborious job in an attempt to help his parents make ends meet. He talked about how he would study under the street lights when the power went out at home. His parents wanted something better for him, as did he. Not living in America changed nothing about their work ethic. His parents continued to work hard daily, in an attempt to provide for their son. My dad worked and studied countless hours, paying his way through school with jobs and scholarships. His efforts paid off when he finally moved to America and opened his own business. None of it would have been possible without tremendous effort and dedication needed for a better life, values that are instilled within me as well, and this is the perspective that I wish to bring to Rice. 

This diversity essay sample references the author’s unique life experiences and personal perspective, which makes it one example of college essays that worked. The author begins the essay by alluding to their unique story—they were born in a different country and then came to America. Instead of facing this change as a challenge, the author shows how this new experience helped them to feel comfortable with all kinds of people. They also highlight how their diversity was accepted and appreciated. 

Additionally, the author incorporates information about their father’s story, which helps to frame their own values and where those values came from. The values that they chose to highlight also fall in line with the values of the Rice community. 

Williams Supplemental Essay Examples

Let’s read the prompt that inspired so many strong Williams supplemental essays examples again: 

Every first-year student at Williams lives in an Entry—a thoughtfully constructed microcosm of the student community that’s a defining part of the Williams experience. From the moment they arrive, students find themselves in what’s likely the most diverse collection of backgrounds, perspectives and interests they’ve ever encountered. What might differentiate you from the 19 other first-year students in an entry? What perspective(s) would you add to the conversation with your peers?

Williams college essay example.

Through the flow in my head

See you clad in red

But not just the clothes

It’s your whole being

Covering in this sickening blanket

Of heat and pain

Are you in agony, I wonder?

Is this the hell they told me about?

Have we been condemned?

Reduced to nothing but pain

At least we have each other

In our envelopes of crimson

I try in vain

“Take my hands” I shriek

“Let’s protect each other, 

You and me, through this hell”

My body contorts

And deforms into nothingness

You remain the same

Clad in red

With faraway eyes

You, like a statue

Your eyes fixed somewhere else

You never see me

Just the red briefcase in your heart

We aren’t together

It’s always been me alone

While you stand there, aloof, with the briefcase in your heart.

I wrote this poem the day my prayer request for the Uighur Muslims got denied at school. At the time, I was stunned. I was taught to have empathy for those around me. Yet, that empathy disappears when told to extend it to someone different. I can’t comprehend this contradiction and I refuse to. 

At Williams, I hope to become a Community Engagement Fellow at the Davis Center. I hope to use Williams’ support for social justice and advocacy to educate my fellow classmates on social issues around the world. Williams students are not just scholars but also leaders and changemakers. Together, we can strive to better the world through advocacy.

Human’s capability for love is endless. We just need to open our hearts to everyone. 

It’s time to let the briefcase go and look at those around us with our real human eyes.

We see you now. Please forgive us.

As we mentioned above, the Williams acceptance rate is incredibly low. This makes the supplemental essay that much more important. 

This diversity essay sample works because it is personal and memorable. The author chooses to start the essay off with a poem. Which, if done right, will immediately grab the reader’s attention. 

Further, the author contextualizes the poem by explaining the circumstances surrounding it—they wrote it in response to a prayer request that was denied at school. In doing so, they also highlight their own values of empathy and embracing diversity. 

Finally, the author ends their cultural diversity essay by describing what excites them about Williams. They also discuss how they see themselves interacting within the Williams community. This is a key piece of the essay, as it helps the reader understand how the author would be a good fit for Williams. 

The examples provided within this essay also touch on issues that are important to the author, which provides a glimpse into the type of student the author would be on campus. Additionally, this response shows what potential extracurricular activities for college the author might be interested in pursuing while at Williams. 

How to Write a Cultural Diversity Essay

You want your diversity essay to stand out from any other diversity essay sample. But how do you write a successful cultural diversity essay? 

First, consider what pieces of your identity you want to highlight in your essay. Of course, race and ethnicity are important facets of diversity. However, there are plenty of other factors to consider. 

As you brainstorm, think outside the box to figure out what aspects of your identity help make up who you are. Because identity and diversity fall on a spectrum, there is no right or wrong answer here. 

Fit your ideas to the specific school

Once you’ve decided on what you want to represent in your cultural diversity essay, think about how that fits into the college of your choice. Use your cultural diversity essay to make connections to the school. If your college has specific values or programs that align with your identity, then include them in your cultural diversity essay! 

Above all, you should write about something that is important to you. Your cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will succeed if you are passionate about your topic and willing to get personal. 

Additional Tips for Community & Cultural Diversity Essays

1. start early.

In order to create the strongest diversity essay possible, you’ll want to start early. Filling out college applications is already a time-consuming process. So, you can cut back on additional stress and anxiety by writing your cultural diversity essay as early as possible. 

2. Brainstorm

Writing a cultural diversity essay or community essay is a personal process. To set yourself up for success, take time to brainstorm and reflect on your topic. Overall, you want your cultural diversity essay to be a good indication of who you are and what makes you a unique applicant. 

3. Proofread

We can’t stress this final tip enough. Be sure to proofread your cultural diversity essay before you hit the submit button. Additionally, you can read your essay aloud to hear how it flows. You can also can ask someone you trust, like your college advisor or a teacher, to help proofread your essay as well.

Other CollegeAdvisor Essay Resources to Explore

Looking for additional resources on supplemental essays for the colleges we mentioned above? Do you need help with incorporating extracurricular activities for college into your essays or crafting a strong diversity essay sample? We’ve got you covered. 

Our how to get into Georgetown guide covers additional tips on how to approach the supplemental diversity essay. If you’re wondering how to write about community in your essay, check out our campus community article for an insider’s perspective on Williams College.

Want to learn strategies for writing compelling cultural diversity essays? Check out this Q&A webinar, featuring a former Georgetown admissions officer. And, if you’re still unsure of what to highlight in your community essay, try getting inspiration from a virtual college tour . 

Cultural Diversity Essay & Community Essay Examples – Final Thoughts

Your supplemental essays are an important piece of the college application puzzle. With colleges becoming more competitive than ever, you’ll want to do everything you can to create a strong candidate profile. This includes writing well-crafted responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay. 

We hope our cultural diversity essay guide helped you learn more about this common type of supplemental essay. As you are writing your own cultural diversity essay or community essay, use the essay examples from Georgetown, Rice, and Williams above as your guide. 

Getting into top schools takes a lot more than a strong resume. Writing specific, thoughtful, and personal responses for a cultural diversity essay, gender diversity essay, or community essay will put you one step closer to maximizing your chances of admission. Good luck!

CollegeAdvisor.com is here to help you with every aspect of the college admissions process. From taking a gap year to completing enrollment , we’re here to help. Register today to receive one-on-one support from an admissions expert as you begin your college application journey.

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College Essays

If you're applying to college, you've probably heard the phrase "diversity essay" once or twice. This type of essay is a little different from your typical "Why this college?" essay . Instead of focusing on why you've chosen a certain school, you'll write about your background, values, community, and experiences—basically, what makes you special.

In this guide, I explain what a diversity college essay is, what schools are looking for in this essay, and what you can do to ensure your diversity essay stands out.

What Is a Diversity Essay for College?

A diversity essay is a college admissions essay that focuses on you as an individual and your relationship with a specific community. The purpose of this essay is to reveal what makes you different from other applicants, including what unique challenges or barriers you've faced and how you've contributed to or learned from a specific community of people.

Generally speaking, the diversity college essay is used to promote diversity in the student body . As a result, the parameters of this essay are typically quite broad. Applicants may write about any relevant community or experience. Here are some examples of communities you could discuss:

• Your cultural group
• Your race or ethnicity
• Your extended family
• Your religion
• Your socioeconomic background (such as your family's income)
• Your sex or gender
• Your sexual orientation
• Your gender identity
• Your values or opinions
• Your experiences
• Your home country or hometown
• Your school
• The area you live in or your neighborhood
• A club or organization of which you're an active member

Although the diversity essay is a common admissions requirement at many colleges, most schools do not specifically refer to this essay as a diversity essay . At some schools, the diversity essay is simply your personal statement , whereas at others, it's a supplemental essay or short answer.

It's also important to note that the diversity essay is not limited to undergraduate programs . Many graduate programs also require diversity essays from applicants. So if you're planning to eventually apply to graduate school, be aware that you might have to write another diversity statement!

Diversity Essay Sample Prompts From Colleges

Now that you understand what diversity essays for college are, let's take a look at some diversity essay sample prompts from actual college applications.

University of Michigan

At the University of Michigan , the diversity college essay is a required supplemental essay for all freshman applicants.

Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.

University of Washington

Like UM, the University of Washington asks students for a short-answer (300 words) diversity essay. UW also offers advice on how to answer the prompt.

Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. Community might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of the University of Washington.

Keep in mind that the UW strives to create a community of students richly diverse in cultural backgrounds, experiences, values, and viewpoints.

University of California System

The UC system requires freshman applicants to choose four out of eight prompts (or personal insight questions ) and submit short essays of up to 350 words each . Two of these are diversity essay prompts that heavily emphasize community, personal challenges, and background.

For each prompt, the UC system offers tips on what to write about and how to craft a compelling essay.

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you've faced and what you've learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

If you're currently working your way through a challenge, what are you doing now, and does that affect different aspects of your life? For example, ask yourself, "How has my life changed at home, at my school, with my friends, or with my family?"

7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?

Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team, or place—like your high school, hometown, or home. You can define community as you see fit; just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community?

Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? How did your actions benefit others, the wider community, or both? Did you work alone or with others to initiate change in your community?

Think about your community: How has it helped you? What have you done for it?

University of Oklahoma

First-year applicants to the University of Oklahoma who want to qualify for a leader, community service, or major-based scholarship must answer two optional, additional writing prompts , one of which tackles diversity. The word count for this prompt is 650 words or less.

The University of Oklahoma is the home of a vibrant, diverse, and compassionate university community that is often referred to as “the OU family.” Please describe your cultural and community service activities and why you chose to participate in them.

Duke University

In addition to having to answer the Common Application or Coalition Application essay prompts, applicants to Duke University may (but do not have to) submit short answers to two prompts, four of which are diversity college essay prompts . The maximum word count for each is 250 words.

We believe a wide range of personal perspectives, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to making Duke a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community .

We believe there is benefit in sharing and sometimes questioning our beliefs or values; who do you agree with on the big important things, or who do you have your most interesting disagreements with? What are you agreeing or disagreeing about?

We recognize that “fitting in” in all the contexts we live in can sometimes be difficult. Duke values all kinds of differences and believes they make our community better. Feel free to tell us any ways in which you’re different, and how that has affected you or what it means to you.

Duke’s commitment to inclusion and belonging includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Feel free to share with us more about how your identity in this context has meaning for you as an individual or as a member of a community .

Pitzer College

At Pitzer, freshman applicants must use the Common Application and answer one supplemental essay prompt. One of these prompts is a diversity essay prompt that asks you to write about your community.

At Pitzer, five core values distinguish our approach to education: social responsibility, intercultural understanding, interdisciplinary learning, student engagement, and environmental sustainability. As agents of change, our students utilize these values to create solutions to our world's challenges. Reflecting on your involvement throughout high school or within the community, how have you engaged with one of Pitzer's core values?

The Common Application

Many colleges and universities, such as Purdue University , use the Common Application and its essay prompts.

One of its essay prompts is for a diversity essay, which can be anywhere from 250 to 650 words. This prompt has a strong focus on the applicant's identity, interests, and background.

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful, they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

ApplyTexas is similar to the Common Application but is only used by public colleges and universities in the state of Texas. The application contains multiple essay prompts, one of which is a diversity college essay prompt that asks you to elaborate on who you are based on a particular identity, a passion you have, or a particular skill that you've cultivated.

Essay B: Some students have an identity, an interest, or a talent that defines them in an essential way. If you are one of these students, then tell us about yourself.

In a diversity essay, focus on an aspect of your identity or cultural background that defines you and makes you stand out.

What Do Colleges Look for in a Diversity Essay?

With the diversity essay, what colleges usually want most is to learn more about you , including what experiences have made you the person you are today and what unique insights you can offer the school. But what kinds of specific qualities do schools look for in a diversity essay?

To answer this, let's look at what schools themselves have said about college essays. Although not many colleges give advice specific to the diversity essay, many provide tips for how to write an effective college essay in general .

For example, here is what Dickinson College hopes to see in applicants' college essays:

Tell your story.

It may be trite advice, but it's also true. Admissions counselors develop a sixth sense about essay writers who are authentic. You'll score points for being earnest and faithful to yourself.

Authenticity is key to writing an effective diversity essay. Schools want you to be honest about who you are and where you come from; don't exaggerate or make up stories to make yourself sound "cooler" or more interesting—99% of the time, admissions committees will see right through it! Remember: admissions committees read thousands of applications, so they can spot a fake story a mile away.

Next, here's what Wellesley College says about the purpose of college essays:

Let the Board of Admission discover:

• More about you as a person.
• The side of you not shown by SATs and grades.
• Your history, attitudes, interests, and creativity.
• Your values and goals—what sets you apart.

It's important to not only be authentic but to also showcase "what sets you apart" from other applicants—that is, what makes you you . This is especially important when you consider how many applications admissions committees go through each year. If you don't stand out in some positive way, you'll likely end up in the crapshoot , significantly reducing or even eliminating your chances of admission .

And finally, here's some advice from the University of Michigan on writing essays for college:

Your college essay will be one of nearly 50,000 that we'll be reading in admissions—use this opportunity to your advantage. Your essay gives us insights into your personality; it helps us determine if your relationship with the school will be mutually beneficial.

So tell us what faculty you'd like to work with, or what research you're interested in. Tell us why you're a leader—or how you overcame adversity in your life. Tell us why this is the school for you. Tell us your story.

Overall, the most important characteristic colleges are looking for in the diversity essay (as well as in any college essay you submit) is authenticity. Colleges want to know who you are and how you got here; they also want to see what makes you memorable and what you can bring to the school.

An excellent diversity essay will represent some aspect of your identity in a sincere, authentic way.

How to Write an Effective Diversity Essay: Four Tips

Here are some tips to help you write a great diversity college essay and increase your chances of admission to college.

#1: Think About What Makes You Unique

One of the main purposes of the diversity essay is to present your uniqueness and explain how you will bring a new perspective to the student body and school as a whole. Therefore, for your essay, be sure to choose a topic that will help you stand apart from other applicants .

For example, instead of writing about your ability to play the piano (which a lot of applicants can do, no doubt), it'd be far more interesting to elaborate on how your experience growing up in Austria led you to become interested in classical music.

Try to think of defining experiences in your life. These don't have to be obvious life-altering events, but they should have had a lasting impact on you and helped shape your identity.

#2: Be Honest and Authentic

Ah, there's that word again: authentic . Although it's important to showcase how unique you are, you also want to make sure you're staying true to who you are. What experiences have made you the person you are today? What kind of impact did these have on your identity, accomplishments, and future goals?

Being honest also means not exaggerating (or lying about) your experiences or views. It's OK if you don't remember every little detail of an event or conversation. Just try to be as honest about your feelings as possible. Don't say something changed your life if it really had zero impact on you.

Ultimately, you want to write in a way that's true to your voice . Don't be afraid to throw in a little humor or a personal anecdote. What matters most is that your diversity essay accurately represents you and your intellectual potential.

#3: Write Clearly, Correctly, and Cogently

This next tip is of a more mechanical nature. As is the case with any college essay, it's critical that your diversity essay is well written . After all, the purpose of this essay is not only to help schools get to know you better but also to demonstrate a refined writing ability—a skill that's necessary for doing well in college, regardless of your major.

A diversity essay that's littered with typos and grammatical errors will fail to tell a smooth, compelling, and coherent story about you. It will also make you look unprofessional and won't convince admissions committees that you're serious about college and your future.

So what should you do? First, separate your essay into clear, well-organized paragraphs. Next, edit your essay several times. As you further tweak your draft, continue to proofread it. If possible, get an adult—such as a teacher, tutor, or parent—to look it over for you as well.

#4: Take Your Time

Our final tip is to give yourself plenty of time to actually write your diversity essay. Usually, college applications are due around December or January , so it's a good idea to start your essay early, ideally in the summer before your senior year (and before classes and homework begin eating up your time).

Starting early also lets you gain some perspective on your diversity essay . Here's how to do this: once you've written a rough draft or even just a couple of paragraphs of your essay, put it away for a few days. Once this time passes, take out your essay again and reread it with a fresh perspective. Try to determine whether it still has the impact you wanted it to have. Ask yourself, "Does this essay sound like the real me or someone else? Are some areas a little too cheesy? Could I add more or less detail to certain paragraphs?"

Finally, giving yourself lots of time to write your diversity essay means you can have more people read it and offer comments and edits on it . This is crucial for producing an effective diversity college essay.

Conclusion: Writing Diversity Essays for College

A diversity essay is a college admissions essay that r evolves around an applicant's background and identity, usually within the context of a particular community. This community can refer to race or ethnicity, income level, neighborhood, school, gender, age, sexual orientation, etc.

Many colleges—such as the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, and Duke—use the diversity essay to ensure diversity in their student bodies . Some schools require the essay; others accept it as an optional application component.

If you'll be writing diversity essays for college, be sure to do the following when writing your essay to give yourself a higher chance of admission:

• Think about what makes you unique: Try to pinpoint an experience or opinion you have that'll separate you from the rest of the crowd in an interesting, positive way.
• Be honest and authentic:  Avoid exaggerating or lying about your feelings and experiences.
• Write clearly, correctly, and cogently:  Edit, proofread, and get someone else to look over your essay.
• Take your time: Start early, preferably during the summer before your senior year, so you can have more time to make changes and get feedback from others.

With that, I wish you the best of luck on your diversity essay!

What's Next?

You understand how to write a diversity essay— but what about a "Why this college?" essay ? What about a general personal statement ? Our guides explain what these essays are and how you can produce amazing responses for your applications.

Want more samples of college essay prompts? Read dozens of real prompts with our guide and learn how to answer them effectively.

Curious about what a good college essay actually looks like? Then check out our analysis of 100+ college essays and what makes them memorable .

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Hannah received her MA in Japanese Studies from the University of Michigan and holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California. From 2013 to 2015, she taught English in Japan via the JET Program. She is passionate about education, writing, and travel.

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Multiculturalism

The idea of multiculturalism in contemporary political discourse and in political philosophy reflects a debate about how to understand and respond to the challenges associated with cultural diversity based on ethnic, national, and religious differences. The term “multicultural” is often used as a descriptive term to characterize the fact of diversity in a society, but in what follows, the focus is on multiculturalism as a normative ideal in the context of Western liberal democratic societies. While the term has come to encompass a variety of normative claims and goals, it is fair to say that proponents of multiculturalism find common ground in rejecting the ideal of the “melting pot” in which members of minority groups are expected to assimilate into the dominant culture. Instead, proponents of multiculturalism endorse an ideal in which members of minority groups can maintain their distinctive collective identities and practices. In the case of immigrants, proponents emphasize that multiculturalism is compatible with, not opposed to, the integration of immigrants into society; multiculturalism policies provide fairer terms of integration for immigrants.

Modern states are organized around the language and culture of the dominant groups that have historically constituted them. As a result, members of minority cultural groups face barriers in pursuing their social practices in ways that members of dominant groups do not. Some theorists argue for tolerating minority groups by leaving them free of state interference (Kukathas 1995, 2003). Others argue that mere toleration of group differences falls short of treating members of minority groups as equals; what is required is recognition and positive accommodation of minority group practices through what the leading theorist of multiculturalism Will Kymlicka has called “group-differentiated rights” (1995). Some group-differentiated rights are held by individual members of minority groups, as in the case of individuals who are granted exemptions from generally applicable laws in virtue of their religious beliefs or individuals who seek language accommodations in education and in voting. Other group-differentiated rights are held by the group qua group rather by its members severally; such rights are properly called “group rights,” as in the case of indigenous groups and minority nations, who claim the right of self-determination. In the latter respect, multiculturalism is closely allied with nationalism.

Multiculturalism is part of a broader political movement for greater inclusion of marginalized groups, including African Americans, women, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities (Glazer 1997, Hollinger 1995, Taylor 1992). This broader political movement is reflected in the “multiculturalism” debates in the 1980s over whether and how to diversify school curricula to recognize the achievements of historically marginalized groups. But the more specific focus of contemporary theories of multiculturalism is the recognition and inclusion of minority groups defined primarily in terms of ethnicity, nationality, and religion. The main concern of contemporary multiculturalism are immigrants who are ethnic and religious minorities (e.g. Latinx people in the U.S., Muslims in Western Europe), minority nations (e.g. the Basque, Catalans, Québécois, Welsh) and indigenous peoples (e.g. Native peoples and indigenous groups in Canada, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand).

1. The claims of multiculturalism

2.1 recognition, 2.2 equality, 2.3 freedom from domination, 2.4 addressing historical injustice, 3.1 cosmopolitan view of culture, 3.2 toleration requires indifference, not accommodation, 3.3 diversion from a “politics of redistribution”, 3.4 universalist ideal of equality, 3.5 postcolonial critique, 3.6 feminist critique of multiculturalism, 4. political retreat from multiculturalism, related entries, other internet resources.

Multiculturalism is closely associated with “identity politics,” “the politics of difference,” and “the politics of recognition,” all of which share a commitment to revaluing disrespected identities and changing dominant patterns of representation and communication that marginalize certain groups (Gutmann 2003, Taylor 1992, Young 1990). Multiculturalism involves not only claims of identity and culture as some critics of multiculturalism suggest. It is also a matter of economic interests and political power: it includes demands for remedying economic and political disadvantages that people suffer as a result of their marginalized group identities.

Multiculturalists take for granted that it is “culture” and “cultural groups” that are to be recognized and accommodated. Yet multicultural claims include a wide range of claims involving religion, language, ethnicity, nationality, and race. Culture is a contested, open-ended concept, and all of these categories have been subsumed by or equated with the concept of culture. Disaggregating and distinguishing among different types of claims can clarify what is at stake (Song 2008). Language and religion are at the heart of many claims for cultural accommodation by immigrants. The key claim made by minority nations is for self-government rights. Race has a more limited role in multicultural discourse. Antiracism and multiculturalism are distinct but related ideas: the former highlights “victimization and resistance” whereas the latter highlights “cultural life, cultural expression, achievements, and the like” (Blum 1992, 14). Claims for recognition in the context of multicultural education are demands not just for recognition of aspects of a group’s actual culture (e.g. African American art and literature) but also for acknowledgment of the history of group subordination and its concomitant experience (Gooding-Williams 1998).

Examples of cultural accommodations or “group-differentiated rights” include exemptions from generally applicable law (e.g. religious exemptions), assistance to do things that members of the majority culture are already enabled to do (e.g. multilingual ballots, funding for minority language schools and ethnic associations, affirmative action), representation of minorities in government bodies (e.g. ethnic quotas for party lists or legislative seats, minority-majority Congressional districts), recognition of traditional legal codes by the dominant legal system (e.g. granting jurisdiction over family law to religious courts), or limited self-government rights (e.g. qualified recognition of tribal sovereignty, federal arrangements recognizing the political autonomy of Québec) (for a helpful classification of cultural rights, see Levy 1997).

Typically, a group-differentiated right is a right of a minority group (or a member of such a group) to act or not act in a certain way in accordance with their religious obligations and/or cultural commitments. In some cases, it is a right that directly restricts the freedom of non-members in order to protect the minority group’s culture, as in the case of restrictions on the use of the English language in Québec. When the right-holder is the group, the right may protect group rules that restrict the freedom of individual members, as in the case of the Pueblo membership rule that excludes the children of women who marry outside the group. Now that you have a sense of the kinds of claims that have been made in the name of multiculturalism, we can now turn to consider different normative justifications for these claims.

2. Justifications for multiculturalism

One justification for multiculturalism arises out of the communitarian critique of liberalism. Liberals tend to be ethical individualists; they insist that individuals should be free to choose and pursue their own conceptions of the good life. They give primacy to individual rights and liberties over community life and collective goods. Some liberals are also individualists when it comes to social ontology (what some call methodological individualism or atomism). Methodological individualists believe that you can and should account for social actions and social goods in terms of the properties of the constituent individuals and individual goods. The target of the communitarian critique of liberalism is not so much liberal ethics as liberal social ontology. Communitarians reject the idea that the individual is prior to the community and that the value of social goods can be reduced to their contribution to individual well-being. They instead embrace ontological holism, which acknowledges collective goods as, in Charles Taylor’s words, “irreducibly social”and intrinsically valuable (Taylor 1995).

An ontologically holist view of collective identities and cultures underlies Taylor’s argument for a “politics of recognition.” Drawing on Rousseau, Herder, and Hegel, among others, Taylor argues that we do not become full human agents and define our identity in isolation from others; rather, “we define our identity always in dialogue with, sometimes in struggle against, the things our significant others want to see in us” (1994, 33). Because our identities are formed dialogically, we are dependent on the recognition of others. The absence of recognition or mis-recognition can cause serious injury: “A person or a group of people can suffer real damage, real distortion, if the people or society around them mirror back to them a confining or demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves” (25). The struggle for recognition can only be satisfactorily resolved through “a regime of reciprocal recognition among equals” (50). Taylor distinguishes the politics of recognition from the traditional liberal “politics of equal respect” that is “inhospitable to difference, because (a) it insists on uniform application of the rules defining these rights, without exception, and (b) it is suspicious of collective goals” (60). By contrast, the politics of recognition is grounded on “judgments about what makes a good life—judgments in which the integrity of cultures has an important place” (61). He discusses the example of the survival of French culture in Quebec. The French language is not merely a collective resource that individuals might want to make use of and thereby seek to preserve, as suggested by a politics of equal respect. Instead, the French language is an irreducibly collective good that itself deserves to be preserved: language policies aimed at preserving the French language in Québec “actively seek to create members of the community” by assuring that future generations continue to identify as French-speakers (58). Because of the indispensable role of cultures in the development human agency and identity, Taylor argues, we should adopt the presumption of the equal worth of all cultures (66).

A second justification for multiculturalism comes from within liberalism but a liberalism that has been revised through critical engagement with the communitarian critique of liberalism. Will Kymlicka has developed the most influential liberal theory of multiculturalism by marrying the liberal values of autonomy and equality with an argument about the value of cultural membership (1989, 1995, 2001). Rather than beginning with intrinsically valuable collective goals and goods as Taylor does, Kymlicka views cultures as instrumentally valuable to individuals, for two main reasons. First, cultural membership is an important condition of personal autonomy. In his first book, Liberalism, Community, and Culture (1989), Kymlicka develops his case for multiculturalism within a Rawlsian framework of justice, viewing cultural membership as a “primary good,” things that every rational person is presumed to want and which are necessary for the pursuit of one’s goals (Rawls 1971, 62). In his later book, Multicultural Citizenship (1995), Kymlicka drops the Rawlsian scaffolding, relying instead on the work of Avishai Margalit and Joseph Raz on national self-determination (1990). One important condition of autonomy is having an adequate range of options from which to choose (Raz 1986). Cultures serve as “contexts of choice,” which provide meaningful options and scripts with which people can frame, revise, and pursue their goals (Kymlicka 1995, 89). Second, cultural membership plays an important role in people’s self-identity. Citing Margalit and Raz as well as Taylor, Kymlicka views cultural identity as providing people with an “anchor for their self-identification and the safety of effortless secure belonging” (1995, 89, quoting Margalit and Raz 1990, 448 and also citing Taylor 1992). This means there is a deep and general connection between a person’s self-respect and the respect accorded to the cultural group of which she is a part. It is not simply membership in any culture but one’s own culture that must be secured in order for cultural membership to serve as a meaningful context of choice and a basis of self-respect.

Kymlicka moves from these premises about the instrumental value of cultural membership to the egalitarian claim that because members of minority groups are disadvantaged in terms of access to their own cultures (in contrast to members of the majority culture), they are entitled to special protections. It is important to note that Kymlicka’s egalitarian argument for multiculturalism rests on a theory of equality that critics have dubbed “luck egalitarianism” (Anderson 1999, Scheffler 2003). According to luck egalitarians, individuals should be held responsible for inequalities resulting from their own choices, but not for inequalities deriving from unchosen circumstances (Dworkin 1981; Rakowski 1993). The latter inequalities are the collective responsibility of citizens to address. For example, inequalities stemming from one’s social starting position in life are unchosen yet so strongly determine our prospects in life. Luck egalitarians argue that those born into poor families are entitled to collective support and assistance via a redistributive tax scheme. Kymlicka adds cultural membership to this list of unchosen inequalities. If one is born into the dominant culture of society, one enjoys good brute luck, whereas those who belong to minority cultures suffer disadvantages in virtue of the bad brute luck of their minority status. Insofar as inequality in access to cultural membership stems from luck (as opposed to individual choices) and one suffers disadvantages as a result of it, members of minority groups can reasonably demand that members of the majority culture must share in bearing the costs of accommodation. Minority group rights are justified, as Kymlicka argues, “within a liberal egalitarian theory…which emphasizes the importance of rectifying unchosen inequalities” (Kymlicka 1995, 109).

One might question whether cultural minority groups really are “disadvantaged” and thereby, owed positive accommodations. Why not just enforce antidiscrimination laws, stopping short of any positive accommodations for minority groups? Kymlicka and other liberal theorists of multiculturalism contend that antidiscrimination laws fall short of treating members of minority groups as equals; this is because states cannot be neutral with respect to culture. In culturally diverse societies, we can easily find patterns of state support for some cultural groups over others. While states may prohibit racial discrimination and avoid official establishment of any religion, they cannot avoid establishing one language for public schooling and other state services (language being a paradigmatic marker of culture) (Kymlicka 1995, 111; Carens 2000, 77–78; Patten 2001, 693). Linguistic advantage translates into economic and political advantage since members of the dominant cultural community have a leg up in schools, the workplace, and politics. Linguistic advantage also takes a symbolic form. When state action extends symbolic affirmation to some groups and not others by adopting a particular language or by organizing the work week and public holidays around the calendar of particular religions, it has a normalizing effect, suggesting that one group’s language and customs are more valued than those of other groups.

In addition to state support of certain cultures over others, state laws may place constraints on some cultural groups over others. Consider the case of dress code regulations in public schools or the workplace. A ban on religious dress burdens religious individuals, as in the case of Simcha Goldman, a U.S. Air Force officer, who was also an ordained rabbi and wished to wear a yarmulke out of respect to an omnipresent God ( Goldman v. Weinberger, 475 US 503 (1986)). The case of the French state’s ban on religious dress in public schools, which burdens Muslim girls who wish to wear headscarves to school, is another example (Bowen 2007, Laborde 2008). Religion may command that believers dress in a certain way (what Peter Jones calls an “intrinsic burden”), not that believers refrain from attending school or going to work (Jones 1994). Yet, burdens on believers do not stem from the dictates of religion alone; they also arise from the intersection of the demands of religion and the demands of the state (“extrinsic burden”). Individuals must bear intrinsic burdens themselves; bearing the burdens of the dictates of one’s faith, such as prayer, worship, and fasting, just is part of meeting one’s religious obligations. When it comes to extrinsic burdens, however, liberal multiculturalists argue that justice requires assisting cultural minorities bear the burdens of these unchosen disadvantages.

It is important to note that liberal multiculturalists distinguish among different types of groups. For instance, Kymlicka’s theory develops a typology of different groups and different types of rights for each. It offers the strongest form of group-differentiated rights—self-government rights—to indigenous peoples and national minorities for the luck egalitarian reason that their minority status is unchosen: they were coercively incorporated into the larger state. By contrast, immigrants are viewed as voluntary migrants: by choosing to migrate, they relinquished access to their native culture. Immigrant multiculturalism, what Kymlicka calls “polyethnic rights”, is understood as a demand for fairer terms of integration into the broader society through the granting of exemptions and accommodations, not a rejection of integration or a demand for collective self-determination (1995, 113–115).

Another set of arguments for multiculturalism rests on the value of freedom. Some theorists such as Phillip Pettit (1997) and Quentin Skinner (1998) have developed the idea of freedom from domination by drawing on the civic republican tradition. Building on this line of argument to argue for recognition, Frank Lovett (2009) maintains that domination presents a serious obstacle to human flourishing. In contrast to the conception of freedom as non-interference dominant in liberal theory, freedom as non-domination, drawn from the civic republic tradition, focuses on a person’s “capacity to interfere, on an arbitrary basis, in certain choices that the other is in a position to make” (Pettit 1997, 52). On this view of freedom, we can be unfree even when we are not experiencing any interference as in the case of a slave of a benevolent master. We are subject to domination to the extent that we are dependent on another person or group who can arbitrarily exercise power over us (Pettit 1997, ch. 2).

Frank Lovett has explored the implications of the value of freedom from domination for questions of multicultural accommodation (2010). He begins from the premise that freedom from domination is an important human good and that we have a prima facie obligation to reduce domination. He argues that the state should not accommodate social practices that directly involve domination. Indeed, if freedom from domination is a priority, then one should “aim to bring such practices to an end as quickly as possible, despite any subjective value they happen to have for their participants” (2010, 256). As for practices that do not involve subjecting individuals to domination, accommodation is permissible but not necessarily required. Accommodation is only required if accommodation would advance the goal of reducing domination. He discusses one stylized example based on a familiar real-world case: the practice among Muslim women and girls of wearing headscarves. Suppose, Lovett suggests, a detailed study of a particular Muslim community in a liberal democratic society is undertaken and it reveals that women’s educational and employment opportunities are discouraged, generating “severe patriarchal domination,” but the study also shows that the practice of wearing headscarves does not (2010, 258). Lovett argues that the practice of wearing headscarves should be accommodated because failure to do so might strengthen the community’s commitment to other shared practices that reinforce patriarchal domination.

A key empirical assumption here is that combating patriarchal practices within minority communities would be easier if the burdens on more benign practices, such as wearing headscarves, are lessened. Cecile Laborde’s analysis of the headscarf controversy in France provides support for this assumption: the effect of preventing Muslim girls from wearing headscarves is to encourage their parents to withdraw their daughters from civic education and send them to religious schools where they would not be exposed to the diversity of world views found in public schools. Formal restrictions on Muslim religious expression in the public sphere may make, in Laborde’s words, “members of dominated groups close ranks around the denigrated practice, precipitating a defensive retreat into conservative cultural forms and identities” (2008, 164).

Another situation in which accommodation is warranted on Lovett’s account is when individuals’ subjective attachment to particular practices makes them vulnerable to exploitation. He discusses the case of Mexican immigrant laborers with limited English language skills and limited knowledge of American laws and policies. Lovett argues that extending “special public measures,” such as exceptions to general rules and regulations and public legal assistance, is required insofar as such measures would reduce the domination of these workers (2010, 260). In contrast to the communitarian or liberal egalitarian arguments considered above, the basis for the special accommodations is not a desire to protect intrinsically valuable cultures or considerations of fairness or equality but the desire to reduce domination.

Mira Bachvarova has also argued for the merits of a non-domination-based multiculturalism as compared to liberal egalitarian approaches. Because of its focus on the arbitrary use of power and the broader structural inequalities within which groups interact, a non-domination approach may be more sensitive to power dynamics in both inter-group and intra-group relations. Also, in contrast to approaches developed out of egalitarian theories of distributive justice that focus on distributing different types of rights, a non-domination approach focuses on the “moral quality of the relationship between the central actors” and insists on continuity of treatment between and within groups (2014, 671).

Other theorists sympathetic to multiculturalism look beyond liberalism and republicanism, emphasizing instead the importance of grappling with historical injustice and listening to minority groups themselves. This is especially true of theorists writing from a postcolonial perspective. For example, in contemporary discussions of aboriginal sovereignty, rather than making claims based on premises about the value of Native cultures and their connection to individual members’ sense of self-worth as liberal multiculturalists have, the focus is on reckoning with history. Such proponents of indigenous sovereignty emphasize the importance of understanding indigenous claims against the historical background of the denial of equal sovereign status of indigenous groups, the dispossession of their lands, and the destruction of their cultural practices (Ivison 2006, Ivison et al. 2000, Moore 2005, Simpson 2000). This background calls into question the legitimacy of the state’s authority over aboriginal peoples and provides a prima facie case for special rights and protections for indigenous groups, including the right of self-government. Jeff Spinner-Halev has argued that the history of state oppression of a group should be a key factor in determining not only whether group rights should be extended but also whether the state should intervene in the internal affairs of the group when it discriminates against particular members of the group. For example, “when an oppressed group uses its autonomy in a discriminatory way against women it cannot simply be forced to stop this discrimination” (2001, 97). Oppressed groups that lack autonomy should be “provisionally privileged” over non-oppressed groups; this means that “barring cases of serious physical harm in the name of a group’s culture, it is important to consider some form of autonomy for the group” (2001, 97; see also Spinner-Halev 2012).

Theorists adopting a postcolonial perspective go beyond liberal multiculturalism toward the goal of developing models of constitutional and political dialogue that recognize culturally distinct ways of speaking and acting. Multicultural societies consist of diverse religious and moral outlooks, and if liberal societies are to take such diversity seriously, they must recognize that liberalism is just one of many substantive outlooks based on a specific view of man and society. Liberalism is not free of culture but expresses a distinctive culture of its own. This observation applies not only across territorial boundaries between liberal and nonliberal states, but also within liberal states and its relations with nonliteral minorities. James Tully has surveyed the language of historical and contemporary constitutionalism with a focus on Western state’s relations with Native peoples to uncover more inclusive bases for intercultural dialogue (1995). Bhikhu Parekh contends that liberal theory cannot provide an impartial framework governing relations between different cultural communities (2000). He argues instead for a more open model of intercultural dialogue in which a liberal society’s constitutional and legal values serve as the initial starting point for cross-cultural dialogue while also being open to contestation.

More recent work has emphasized the importance of developing more contextual approaches that engage with actual political struggles for recognition and give greater voice to minority groups. Through detailed examination of how national museums in Canada and the U.S. have sought to represent and recognize indigenous groups, Caitlin Tom identifies three principles for the practice of recognition: self-definition, responsiveness, and internal contestation. Whether it be museum officials seeking to exhibit the history and culture of minority groups or government officials deciding whether official apologies for historical injustices are in order, they should respect individual and collective self-definition, respond to demands for recognition on terms that align with the terms of those being recognized, and accommodate internal contestation of group meanings. As Tom argues, practices of recognition guided by these principles come closer to fostering freedom and equality of minority groups than existing approaches (2018).

3. Critique of multiculturalism

Some critics contend that theories of multiculturalism are premised on an essentialist view of culture. Cultures are not distinct, self-contained wholes; they have long interacted and influenced one another through war, imperialism, trade, and migration. People in many parts of the world live within cultures that are already cosmopolitan, characterized by cultural hybridity. As Jeremy Waldron argues, “We live in a world formed by technology and trade; by economic, religious, and political imperialism and their offspring; by mass migration and the dispersion of cultural influences. In this context, to immerse oneself in the traditional practices of, say, an aboriginal culture might be a fascinating anthropological experiment, but it involves an artificial dislocation from what actually is going on in the world” (1995, 100). To aim at preserving or protecting a culture runs the risk of privileging one allegedly pure version of that culture, thereby crippling its ability to adapt to changes in circumstances (Waldron 1995, 110; see also Appiah 2005, Benhabib 2002, Scheffler 2007). Waldron also rejects the premise that the options available to an individual must come from a particular culture; meaningful options may come from a variety of cultural sources. What people need are cultural materials, not access to a particular cultural structure. For example, the Bible, Roman mythology, and the Grimms’ fairy tales have all influenced American culture, but these cultural sources cannot be seen as part of a single cultural structure that multiculturalists like Kymlicka aim to protect.

In response, multicultural theorists agree that cultures are overlapping and interactive, but they nonetheless maintain that individuals belong to separate societal cultures. In particular, Kymlicka has argued that while options available to people in any modern society come from a variety of ethnic and historical sources, these options become meaningful to us only if “they become part of the shared vocabulary of social life—i.e. embodied in the social practices, based on a shared language, that we are exposed to... That we learn...from other cultures, or that we borrow words from other languages, does not mean that we do not still belong to separate societal cultures, or speak different languages” (1995, 103). Liberal egalitarian defenders of multiculturalism like Kymlicka maintain that special protections for minority cultural groups still hold, even after we adopt a more cosmopolitan view of cultures, because the aim of group-differentiated rights is not to freeze cultures in place but to empower members of minority groups to continue their distinctive cultural practices so long as they wish to.

A second major criticism is aimed at liberal multicultural theories of accommodation in particular and stems from the value of freedom of association and conscience. If we take these ideas seriously and accept both ontological and ethical individualism as discussed above, then we are led to defend not special protections for groups but the individual’s right to form and leave associations. As Chandran Kukathas (1995, 2003) argues, there are no group rights, only individual rights. By granting cultural groups special protections and rights, the state oversteps its role, which is to secure civility, and risks undermining individual rights of association. States should not pursue “cultural integration” or “cultural engineering” but rather a “politics of indifference” toward minority groups (2003, 15).

One limitation of such a laissez-faire approach is that groups that do not themselves value toleration and freedom of association, including the right to dissociate or exit a group, may practice internal discrimination against group members, and the state would have little authority to interfere in such associations. A politics of indifference would permit the abuse of vulnerable members of groups (discussed below in 3.6), tolerating, in Kukathas’s words, “communities which bring up children unschooled and illiterate; which enforce arranged marriages; which deny conventional medical care to their members (including children); and which inflict cruel and ‘unusual’ punishment” (Kukathas 2003, 134). To embrace such a state of affairs would be to abandon the values of autonomy and equality, values that many liberals take to be fundamental to any liberalism worth its name.

A third challenge to multiculturalism views it as a form of a “politics of recognition” that diverts attention from a “politics of redistribution.” We can distinguish analytically between these modes of politics: a politics of recognition challenges status inequality and the remedy it seeks is cultural and symbolic change, whereas a politics of redistribution challenges economic inequality and exploitation and the remedy it seeks is economic restructuring (Fraser 1997, Fraser and Honneth 2003). Working class mobilization tilts toward the redistribution end of the spectrum, and claims for exemption from generally applicable laws and the movement for same-sex marriage are on the recognition end. In the U.S. critics who view themselves as part of the “progressive left” worry that the rise of the “cultural left” with its emphasis on multiculturalism and difference turns the focus away from struggles for economic justice (Gitlin 1995, Rorty 1999). Critics in the United Kingdom and Europe have also expressed concern about the effects of multiculturalism on social trust and public support for economic redistribution (Barry 2001, Miller 2006, van Parijs 2004). Phillipe van Parijs invited scholars to consider the proposition, “Other things being equal, the more cultural... homogeneity within the population of a defined territory, the better the prospects in terms of economic solidarity” (2004, 8).

There are two distinct concerns here. The first is that the existence of racial and ethnic diversity reduces social trust and solidarity, which in turn undermines public support for policies that involve economic redistribution. For example, Robert Putnam argues that the decline in social trust and civic participation in the U.S. is strongly correlated with racial and ethnic diversity (2007). Rodney Hero has shown that the greater the racial and ethnic heterogeneity in a state, the more restrictive state-level welfare programs are (Hero 1998, Hero and Preuhs 2007). Cross-national analyses suggest that differences in racial diversity explain a significant part of the reason why the U.S. has not developed a European-style welfare state (Alesina and Glaeser 2004). The second concern is that multiculturalism policies themselves undermine the welfare-state by heightening the salience of racial and ethnic differences among groups and undermining a sense of common national identity that is viewed as necessary for a robust welfare state (Barry 2001, Gitlin 1995, Rorty 1999).

In response, theorists of multiculturalism have called for and collaborated on more empirical research of these purported trade-offs. With respect to the first concern about the tension between diversity and redistribution, Kymlicka and Banting question the generalizability of the empirical evidence that is largely drawn from research either on Africa, where the weakness of state institutions has meant no usable traditions or institutional capacity for dealing with diversity, or on the U.S., where racial inequality has been shaped by centuries of slavery and segregation. Where many minority groups are newcomers and where state institutions are strong, the impact of increasing diversity may be quite different (Kymlicka and Banting 2006, 287). Barbara Arneil has also challenged Putnam’s social capital thesis, arguing that participation in civil society has changed, not declined, largely as a result of mobilization among cultural minorities and women seeking greater inclusion and equality (Arneil 2006a). She argues that it is not diversity itself that leads to changes in trust and civic engagement but the politics of diversity, i.e. how different groups respond to and challenge the norms governing their society. The central issue, then, is not to reduce diversity but to determine principles and procedures by which differences are renegotiated in the name of justice (Arneil and MacDonald 2010).

As for the second concern about the tradeoff between recognition and redistribution, the evidence upon which early redistributionist critics such as Barry and Rorty relied was speculative and conjectural. Recent cross-national research suggests that there is no evidence of a systematic tendency for multiculturalism policies to weaken the welfare state (Banting et al. 2006). Irene Bloemraad’s comparative study of immigrant integration in Canada and the U.S. offers support for the view that not only is there no trade-off between multiculturalism and the welfare-state but multiculturalism policies can actually increase attention and resources devoted to redistributive policies. She finds that Canada’s multiculturalism policies, which provide immigrants with a variety of services in their native languages and encourage them to preserve their cultural traditions even as they become Canadian citizens, are the main reason why the naturalization rate among permanent residents in Canada is twice that of permanent residents in the U.S. Multiculturalists agree more empirical research is needed, but they nonetheless maintain that redistribution and recognition are not either/or propositions. Both are important dimensions in the pursuit of equality for minority groups. In practice, both redistribution and recognition—responding to material disadvantages and marginalized identities and statuses—are required to achieve greater equality across lines of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexuality, and class, not least because many individuals stand at the intersection of these different categories and suffer multiple forms of marginalization. A politics of recognition is important not only on account of its effects on socioeconomic status and political participation but also for the sake of full inclusion of members of marginalized groups as equal citizens.

A fourth objection takes issue with liberal multiculturalist’s understanding of what equality requires. Brian Barry defends a universalist ideal of equality, in contrast to the group-differentiated ideal of equality defended by Kymlicka. Barry argues that religious and cultural minorities should be held responsible for bearing the consequences of their own beliefs and practices, just as members of the dominant culture are held responsible for bearing the consequences of their beliefs. He does think that special accommodations are owed to people with disabilities, but he believes religious and cultural affiliations are different from physical disabilities: the former do not constrain people in the way that physical disabilities do. A physical disability supports a strong prima facie claim to compensation because it limits a person’s opportunities to engage in activities that others are able to engage in. In contrast, religion and culture may shape one’s willingness to seize an opportunity, but they do not affect whether one has an opportunity. Barry argues that egalitarian justice is only concerned with ensuring a reasonable range of equal opportunities, not with ensuring equal access to any particular choices or outcomes (2001, 37). When it comes to cultural and religious affiliations, they do not limit the range of opportunities one enjoys but rather the choices one can make within the set of opportunities available to all.

In reply, one might agree that opportunities are not objective in the strong physicalist sense suggested by Barry. But the opportunity to do X is not just having the possibility to do X without facing physical encumbrances; it is also the possibility of doing X without incurring excessive costs or the risk of such costs (Miller 2002, 51). State law and cultural commitments can conflict in ways such that the costs for cultural minorities of taking advantage of the opportunity are prohibitively high. In contrast to Barry, liberal multiculturalists argue that many cases where a law or policy disparately impacts a religious or cultural practice constitute injustice. For instance, Kymlicka points to the Goldman case (discussed above) and other religion cases, as well as to claims for language rights, as examples in which group-differentiated rights are required in light of the differential impact of state action (1995, 108–115). His argument is that since the state cannot achieve complete disestablishment of culture or be neutral with respect to culture, it must somehow make it up to citizens who are bearers of minority religious beliefs and native speakers of other languages. Because complete state disestablishment of culture is not possible, one way to ensure fair background conditions is to provide roughly comparable forms of assistance or recognition to each of the various languages and religions of citizens. To do nothing would be to permit injustice.

Some postcolonial theorists are critical of multiculturalism and the contemporary politics of recognition for reinforcing, rather than transforming, structures of colonial domination in relations between settler states and indigenous communities. Focusing on Taylor’s theory of the politics of recognition, Glen Coulthard has argued that “instead of ushering in an era of peaceful coexistence grounded on the Hegelian idea of reciprocity, the politics of recognition in its contemporary form promises to reproduce the very configurations of colonial power that indigenous peoples’ demands for recognition have historically sought to transcend” (2007, 438–9; see also Coulthard 2014). There are several elements to Coulthard’s critique. First, he argues that the politics of recognition, through its focus on reformist state redistributionist schemes like granting cultural rights and concessions to aboriginal communities, affirms rather than challenges the political economy of colonialism. In this regard, the politics of recognition reveals itself to be a variant of liberalism, which “fails to confront the structural/economic aspects of colonialism at its generative roots” (2007, 446). Second, the contemporary politics of recognition toward indigenous communities rests on a flawed sociological assumption: that both parties engaged in the struggle for recognition are mutually dependent on one another’s acknowledgement for their freedom and self-worth. Yet, no such mutual dependency exists in actual relations between nation-states and indigenous communities: “the master—that is, the colonial state and state society—does not require recognition from the previously self-determining communities upon which its territorial, economic, and social infrastructure is constituted” (451). Third, Coulthard argues that true emancipation for the colonized cannot occur without struggle and conflict that “serves as the mediating force through which the colonized come to shed their colonial identities” (449). He employs Frantz Fanon to argue that the road to true self-determination for the oppressed lies in self-affirmation: rather than depending on their oppressors for their freedom and self-worth, “the colonized must initiate the process of decolonization by recognizing themselves as free, dignified and distinct contributors to humanity” (454). This means that indigenous peoples should “collectively redirect our struggles away from a politics that seeks to attain a conciliatory form of settler-state recognition for Indigenous nations toward a resurgent politics of recognition premised on self-actualization, direct action, and the resurgence of cultural practices that are attentive to the subjective and structural composition of settler-colonial power” (2014, 24).

Taylor, Kymlicka, and other proponents of the contemporary politics of recognition might agree with Coulthard that self-affirmation by oppressed groups is critical for true self-determination and freedom of indigenous communities, but such self-affirmation need not be viewed as mutually exclusive from state efforts to extend institutional accommodations. State recognition of self-government rights and other forms of accommodation are important steps toward rectifying historical injustices and transforming structural inequalities between the state and indigenous communities. Coulthard’s analysis redirects attention to the importance of evaluating and challenging the structural and psycho-affective dimensions of colonial domination, but by arguing that indigenous peoples should “turn away” (2007, 456) from settler-states and settler societies may play into the neoliberal turn toward the privatization of dependency and to risk reinforcing the marginalization of indigenous communities at a time when economic and other forms of state support may be critical to the survival of indigenous communities.

The set of critiques that has ignited perhaps the most intense debate about multiculturalism argues that extending protections to minority groups may come at the price of reinforcing oppression of vulnerable members of those groups—what some have called the problem of “internal minorities” or “minorities within minorities” (Green 1994, Eisenberg and Spinner-Halev 2005). Multicultural theorists have tended to focus on inequalities between groups in arguing for special protections for minority groups, but group-based protections can exacerbate inequalities within minority groups. This is because some ways of protecting minority groups from oppression by the majority may make it more likely that more powerful members of those groups are able to undermine the basic liberties and opportunities of vulnerable members. Vulnerable subgroups within minority groups include religious dissenters, sexual minorities, women, and children. A group’s leaders may exaggerate the degree of consensus and solidarity within their group to present a united front to the wider society and strengthen their case for accommodation.

Some of the most oppressive group norms and practices revolve around issues of gender and sexuality, and it is feminist critics who first called attention to potential tensions between multiculturalism and feminism (Coleman 1996, Okin 1999, Shachar 2000). These tensions constitute a genuine dilemma if one accepts both that group-differentiated rights for minority cultural groups are justifiable, as multicultural theorists do, and that gender equality is an important value, as feminists have emphasized. Extending special protections and accommodations to minority groups engaged in patriarchal practices may help reinforce gender inequality within these communities. Examples that have been analyzed in the scholarly literature include conflicts over arranged marriage, the ban on headscarves, the use of “cultural defenses” in criminal law, accommodating religious law or customary law within dominant legal systems, and self-government rights for indigenous communities that reinforce the inequality of women.

These feminist objections are especially troublesome for liberal egalitarian defenders of multiculturalism who wish to promote not only inter-group equality but also intra-group equality, including gender equality. In response, Kymlicka (1999) has emphasized the similarities between multiculturalism and feminism: both aim at a more inclusive conception of justice, and both challenge the traditional liberal assumption that equality requires identical treatment. To address the concern about multicultural accommodations exacerbating intra-group inequality, Kymlicka distinguishes between two kinds of group rights: “external protections” are rights that a minority group claims against non-members in order to reduce its vulnerability to the economic and political power of the larger society, whereas “internal restrictions” are rights that a minority group claims against its own members. He argues that a liberal theory of minority group rights defends external protections while rejecting internal restrictions (1995, 35–44;1999, 31).

But many feminist critics have emphasized, granting external protections to minority groups may sometimes come at the price of internal restrictions. They may be different sides of the same coin: for example, respecting the self-government rights of Native communities may entail permitting sexually discriminatory membership rules enacted by the leaders of those communities. Whether multiculturalism and feminism can be reconciled within liberal theory depends in part on the empirical premise that groups that seek group-differentiated rights do not support patriarchal norms and practices. If they do, liberal multiculturalists would in principle have to argue against extending the group right or extending it with certain qualifications, such as conditioning the extension of self-government rights to Native peoples on the acceptance of a constitutional bill of rights.

There has been a wave of feminist responses to the problem of vulnerable internal minorities that is sympathetic to both multiculturalism and feminism (see, e.g., Arneil 2006b, Deveaux 2006, Eisenberg 2003, Lépinard 2011, Phillips 2007, Shachar 2001, Song 2007, Volpp 2000). Some feminists have emphasized the importance of moving away from essentialist notions of culture and reductive views of members of minority groups as incapable of meaningful agency (Phillips 2007, Volpp 2000). Other feminists have sought to shift the emphasis from liberal rights towards more democratic approaches. Liberal theorists have tended to start from the question of whether and how minority cultural practices should be tolerated or accommodated in accordance with liberal principles, whereas democratic theorists foreground the role of democratic deliberation and ask how affected parties understand the contested practice. By drawing on the voices of affected parties and giving special weight to the voice of women at the center of gendered cultural conflicts, deliberation can clarify the interests at stake and enhance the legitimacy of responses to cultural conflicts (Benhabib 2002, Deveaux 2006, Song 2007). Deliberation also provides opportunities for minority group members to expose instances of cross-cultural hypocrisy and to consider whether and how the norms and institutions of the larger society, whose own struggles for gender equality are incomplete and ongoing, may reinforce rather than challenge sexist practices within minority groups (Song 2005). There is contestation over what constitutes subordination and how best to address it, and intervention into minority cultural groups without the participation of minority women themselves fails to respect their freedom and is not likely to serve their interests.

The biggest challenge to multiculturalism today may not be philosophical but political: a political retreat or backlash against immigrant multiculturalism in particular. Some scholars have diagnosed a “retreat” from multiculturalism in Europe and Australia, which they attribute to a lack of public support based partly on the limited success of such policies to foster the integration of minorities (Joppke 2004, McGhee 2008). But other scholars argue there is lack of evidence of any such retreat. Based on their analysis of British policies, Varun Uberoi and Tariq Modood find that legal exemptions for minority religious practices, anti-discrimination measures, and multicultural education policies remain in place, and there is no country-wide evidence suggesting that public services are no longer delivered in different languages (2013, 134). Further research is needed on whether and why there has been a retreat from multiculturalism policies.

Perhaps the claim about a “retreat” from multiculturalism has less to do with any actual changes in state policies and more with concerns about lack of social unity and increasing tensions among diverse groups in liberal democratic societies and the sense that multiculturalism is somehow to blame. Consider then-Prime Minister David Cameron’s 2011 speech: “Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and apart from the mainstream. We’ve failed to provide a vision of society to which they [young Muslims] feel they want to belong” (Cameron 2011). According to Cameron, multiculturalism stands for separation and division, not integration and unity. But the survey of different theories of multiculturalism above demonstrates that most theories of immigrant multiculturalism do not aim at separation but rather devising fairer terms of inclusion for religious and cultural minorities into mainstream society (Kymlicka 1995).

Going forward, public debate about immigrant multiculturalism should be pursued in a broader context that considers the politics of immigration, race, religion, and national security. Multiculturalism may become an easy rhetorical scapegoat for public fear and anxiety whenever national security is seen to be threatened and when economic conditions are bad. In Europe, concerns about the radicalization of Muslim minorities have become central to public debates about immigration and multiculturalism. This was especially true in the face of the European migration crisis as over a million people fleeing war and violence in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere made perilous journeys by sea and land into Europe. This crisis tapped into fears about terrorism and security, especially after the November 2015 Paris and July 2016 Nice attacks; it also renewed concerns about the limits of past efforts to integrate newcomers and their descendants. Evidence from across Europe suggests that Muslims are struggling to succeed in education and the labor market in comparison to other religious and cultural minorities (Givens 2007).

Socioeconomic and political marginalization interacts with immigrants’ own sense of belonging: it is hard to imagine newcomers feeling integrated before they make significant steps toward socioeconomic integration. Integration is a two-way street: not only must immigrants work to integrate themselves, but the state itself must make accommodations to facilitate integration, as many multicultural theorists have emphasized. As Cecile Laborde observes, North African youth in France are “routinely blamed for not being integrated,” but this blame “confuses French society’s institutional responsibility to integrate immigrants with immigrants’ personal failure to integrate into society” (Laborde 2008, 208). The challenge of integrating immigrants has been heightened by increasing public acceptability of expressions of anti-Muslim sentiment. The rise of far-right political parties and their anti-Muslim publicity campaigns, coupled with the media’s willingness to report, often uncritically, their positions damage the prospects for integrating Muslims in Europe (Lenard 2010, 311). Muslim political leaders report that it is “part of mainstream public dialogue” to refer to the “menace of foreign cultures and the threat posed by immigrants in general, and Muslims in particular, to social solidarity and cultural homogeneity” (Klausen 2005, 123). Muslims have been, in Laborde’s words, “reduced to their presumed identity, culture, or religion, and consequently stigmatized as immigrant, Arab, or Muslim” (2008, 17). The challenges posed by integrating Muslims are thought to be more complex than the challenges of integrating earlier waves of immigrants, but as Patti Lenard argues, this alleged complexity derives from the simplistic and unfair elision between Islamic fundamentalism and the vast majority of Muslim minorities in Europe who desire integration on fairer terms of the sort that multiculturalists defend (Lenard 2010, 318).

In light of these concerns with immigrant multiculturalism, multicultural theorists need to continue to make the case that the ideal of multicultural citizenship stands for fairer terms of integration, not separation and division, and offer answers to questions such as: Why is multicultural citizenship more desirable than the traditional liberal ideal of common citizenship based on a uniform set of rights and opportunities for everyone? Are multiculturalism policies actually fostering greater integration of immigrants and their descendants? How should we think about the relationship between multiculturalism and struggles to address inequalities based on race, indigeneity, class, gender, sexuality, and disability? It is also important to study the development of multiculturalism beyond the West, including whether and how Western theories and practices of multiculturalism have traveled and been incorporated. For example, what lessons have states that only recently opened up to significant immigration, such as South Korea, drawn from the experiences of other states, and what sorts of multiculturalism policies have they adopted and why? (Lie 2014)

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How to Write a College Diversity Essay – Examples & Tips

What is a diversity essay for college?

If you are preparing for your college application, you have probably heard that you sometimes need to submit a “diversity essay,” and you might be wondering how this is different from the usual admission essay. A diversity essay is a college admissions essay that focuses on the applicant’s background, identity, culture, beliefs, or relationship with a specific community, on what makes an applicant unique, and on how they might bring a fresh perspective or new insights to a school’s student body. Colleges let applicants write such essays to ensure diversity in their campus communities, to improve everyone’s learning experience, or to determine who might be eligible for scholarships that are offered to students from generally underrepresented backgrounds. 

Some colleges list the essay as one of their main requirements to apply, while others give you the option to add it to your application if you wish to do so. At other schools, it is simply your “personal statement”—but the prompts you are given can make it an essay on the topic of diversity in your life and how that has shaped who you are.

To write a diversity essay, you need to think about what makes you uniquely you: What significant experiences have you made, because of your background, that might separate you from other applicants? Sometimes that is obvious, but sometimes it is easy to assume our experiences are normal just because we are part of a community that shares the same circumstances, beliefs, or experiences. But if you look at your life from the perspective of someone who is not part of that community, such as an admissions officer, they can suddenly be not-so-common and help you stand out from the crowd.

Diversity Essay Examples and Topics

Diversity essays come in all shapes and formats, but what they need to do is highlight an important aspect of your identity, background, culture, viewpoints, beliefs, goals, etc. You could, for example, write about one of the following topics:

• Your home country/hometown
• Your cultural/immigration background
• Your race/ethnicity
• Your unique family circumstances
• Your religion/belief system
• Your socioeconomic background
• Your disability
• Your sex/gender
• Your sexual orientation
• Your gender identity
• Your values/opinions
• Your experiences
• Your extracurricular activities related to diversity

In the following, we ask some general questions to make you start reflecting on what diversity might mean for you and your life, and we present you with excerpts from several successful diversity-related application essays that will give you an idea about the range of topics you can write about.

How does diversity make you who you are as a person or student?

We usually want to fit in, especially when we are young, and you might not even realize that you and your life experiences could add to the diversity of a student campus. You might think that you are just like everyone around you. Or you might think that your background is nothing to brag about and are not really comfortable showcasing it. But looking at you and your life from the point of view of someone who is not part of your community, your background, culture, or family situation might actually be unique and interesting. 

What makes admission committees see the unique and interesting in your life is an authentic story, maybe even a bit vulnerable, about your lived experiences and the lessons you learned from them that other people who lived other lifes did not have the chance to learn. Don’t try to explain how you are different from others or how you have been more privileged or less fortunate than others—let your story do that. Keep the focus on yourself, your actions, thoughts, and feelings, and allow the reader a glimpse into your culture, upbringing, or community that gives them some intriguing insights. 

Have a look at the excerpt below from a diversity essay that got an applicant into Cornell University . This is just the introduction, but there is probably no admissions officer who would not want to keep reading after such a fascinating entry. 

He’s in my arms, the newest addition to the family. I’m too overwhelmed. “That’s why I wanted you to go to Bishop Loughlin,” she says, preparing baby bottles. “But ma, I chose Tech because I wanted to be challenged.” “Well, you’re going to have to deal with it,” she replies, adding, “Your aunt watched you when she was in high school.” “But ma, there are three of them. It’s hard!” Returning home from a summer program that cemented intellectual and social independence to find a new baby was not exactly thrilling. Add him to the toddler and seven-year-old sister I have and there’s no wonder why I sing songs from Blue’s Clues and The Backyardigans instead of sane seventeen-year-old activities. It’s never been simple; as a female and the oldest, I’m to significantly rear the children and clean up the shabby apartment before an ounce of pseudo freedom reaches my hands. If I can manage to get my toddler brother onto the city bus and take him home from daycare without snot on my shoulder, and if I can manage to take off his coat and sneakers without demonic screaming for no apparent reason, then it’s a good day. Only, waking up at three in the morning to work, the only free time I have, is not my cup of Starbucks.  Excerpt from “All Worth It”, Anonymous, published in 50 Successful IVY LEAGUE Application Essays Fourth Edition, Gen & Kelly Tanabe, SuperCollege, 2017 .

How has your identity or background affected your life?

On top of sharing a relevant personal story, you also need to make sure that your essay illustrates how your lived experience has influenced your perspective, your life choices, or your goals. If you can explain how your background or experience led you to apply to the school you want to submit the essay to, and why you would be a great fit for that school, even better. 

You don’t need to fit all of that into one short essay, though. Just make sure to end your essay with some conclusions about the things your life has taught you that will give the admissions committee a better idea of who you now are—like the author of the following (winning) admissions essay submitted to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) .

[…] I always thought that I had it the worst out of all my family members because I was never allowed to get anything lower than what my brother or a cousin had gotten in a class. My parents figured if they could do it, so could I, and if not on my own then with a little of their help. It was not until recently that I realized the truth in this. In my short life I have seen my father go from speaking no English to excelling in it. I have heard countless stories about migrant farmers such as Cesar Chavez and my grandfather who had nearly nothing, yet persisted and succeeded. […] When I had trouble speaking Spanish and felt like abandoning my native tongue, I remembered my mother and how when she came to the United States she was forced to wash her mouth out with soap and endure beatings with a ruler by the nuns at her school for speaking it. When I couldn’t figure out tangents, sines, and cosines I thought about my father and how it took him nearly a year to learn long division because he was forced to teach it to himself after dropping out and starting to work in the 4th grade. […] All these people, just from my family, have been strong role models for me. I feel that being labeled “underprivileged” does not mean that I am limited in what I can do. There is no reason for me to fail or give up, and like my parents and grandparents have done, I’ve been able to pull through a great deal. My environment has made me determined, hard working, and high aiming. I would not like it any other way. From “Lessons From the Immigration Spectrum”, Anonymous, MIT, published in 50 Successful IVY LEAGUE Application Essays Fourth Edition, Gen & Kelly Tanabe, SuperCollege, 2017 .

How will your diversity contribute to the college campus and community?

The admissions committee would like to know how your identity or background will enrich the university’s existing student body. If you haven’t done so, researching the university’s organizations and groups and what specific courses the university offers might be a good idea. If you are applying to a large public school, you could mention that you are looking forward to broadening not just your horizon but also your community. Or maybe your college of choice has a specialized program or student organization that you feel you will fit right into and that you could contribute to with your unique background.

Tailoring your answer to the university you are applying to shows that you are serious and have done your research, and a university is obviously looking for such students. If you can’t find a way to make your essay “match” the university, then don’t despair—showing the admissions committee that you are someone who already made some important experiences, has reflected on them, and is eager to learn more and contribute to their community is often all that is needed. But you also don’t need to search for the most sophisticated outro or conclusion, as the following excerpt shows, from an admission essay written by an applicant named Angelica, who was accepted into the University of Chicago . Sometimes a simple conviction is convincing enough. 

[…] The knowledge that I have gained from these three schools is something I will take with me far beyond college. My roommate, across-the-hall mates, and classmates have influenced my life as much as I hope to have impacted theirs. It is evident to me that they have helped me develop into the very much visible person I am today. I have learned to step outside of my comfort zone, and I have learned that diversity is so much more than the tint of our skin. My small mustard-colored school taught me that opportunity and success only requires desire. I would be an asset to your college because as I continue on my journey to success, I will take advantage of every opportunity that is available to me and make sure to contribute as much as I can, too. Now I am visible. Now I am visible. Now I am visible, and I want to be seen. From “No Longer Invisible” by Angelica, University of Chicago, published in 50 Successful IVY LEAGUE Application Essays Fourth Edition, Gen & Kelly Tanabe, SuperCollege, 2017 .

Tell stories about your lived experience

You might wonder how exactly to go about writing stories about your “lived experience.” The first step, after getting drawing inspiration from other people’s stories, is to sit down and reflect on your own life and what might be interesting about it, from the point of view of someone outside of your direct environment or community.

Two straightforward approaches for a diversity-related essay are to either focus on your community or on your identity . The first one is more related to what you were born into (and what it taught you), and the second one focuses on how you see yourself, as an individual but also as part of society.

Take some time to sit down and reflect on which of these two approaches you relate to more and which one you think you have more to say about. And then we’d recommend you do what always helps when we sit in front of a blank page that needs to be filled: Make a list or draw a chart or create a map of keywords that can become the cornerstones of your story.

For example, if you choose the “community” approach, then start with a list of all the communities that you are a part of. These communities can be defined by different factors:

• A shared place: people live or work together
• Shared actions: People create something together or solve problems together
• Shared interests: People come together based on interests, hobbies, or goals
• Shared circumstances: people are brought together by chance or by events

Once you have that list, pick one of your communities and start asking yourself more specific questions. For example: 

• What did you do as a member of that community? 
• What kinds of problems did you solve , for your community or together?
• Did you feel like you had an impact ? What was it?
• What did you learn or realize ? 
• How are you going to apply what you learned outside of that community?

If, instead, you choose the “identity” approach, then think about different ways in which you think about yourself and make a list of those. For example:

My identity is as a… 

• boy scout leader
• hobby writer
• babysitter for my younger siblings
• speaker of different languages
• collector of insightful proverbs
• Japanese-American
• other roles in your family, community, or social sub-group

Feel free to list as many identities as you can. Then, think about what different sides of you these identities reveal and which ones you have not yet shown or addressed in your other application documents and essays. Think about whether one of these is more important to you than others if there is one that you’d rather like to hide (and why) and if there is any struggle, for example with reconciling all of these sides of yourself or with one of them not being accepted by your culture or environment.

Overall, the most important characteristic admissions committees are looking for in your diversity essay is authenticity . They want to know who you are, behind your SATs and grades, and how you got where you are now, and they want to see what makes you memorable (remember, they have to read thousands of essays to decide who to enroll). 

The admissions committee members likely also have a “sixth sense” about whose essay is authentic and whose is not. But if you go through a creative process like the one outlined here, you will automatically reflect on your background and experiences in a way that will bring out your authenticity and honesty and prevent you from just making up a “cool story.”

Diversity Essay Sample Prompts From Colleges

If you are still not sure how to write a diversity essay, let’s have a look at some of the actual diversity essay prompts that colleges include in their applications. 

Diversity Essay Sample #1: University of California

The University of California asks applicants to choose between eight prompts (they call them “ personal insight questions “) and submit four short essays of up to 350 words each that tell the admission committee what you would want them to know about you . These prompts ask about your creative side (#2), your greatest talent (#3), and other aspects of your personality, but two of them (#5 and #7) are what could be called “diversity essay prompts” that ask you to talk about the most significant challenge you have faced and what you have done to make your community a better place .

The University of California website also offers advice on how to use these prompts and how to write a compelling essay, so make sure you use all the guidance they give you if that is the school you are trying to get into!

UC Essay prompt #5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Things to consider: A challenge could be personal, or something you have faced in your community or school. Why was the challenge significant to you? This is a good opportunity to talk about any obstacles you’ve faced and what you’ve learned from the experience. Did you have support from someone else or did you handle it alone?

UC Essay prompt #7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?  

Things to consider: Think of community as a term that can encompass a group, team, or place—like your high school, hometown, or home. You can define community as you see fit, just make sure you talk about your role in that community. Was there a problem that you wanted to fix in your community? Why were you inspired to act? What did you learn from your effort? 

Diversity Essay Sample #2: Duke University

Duke University asks for a one-page essay in response to either one of the Common Application prompts or one of the Coalition Application prompts, as well as a short essay that answers a question specific to Duke. 

In addition, you can (but do not have to) submit up to two short answers to four prompts that specifically ask about your unique experiences, your beliefs and values, and your background and identity. The maximum word count for each of these short essays on diversity topics is 250 words.

Essay prompt #1. We seek a diverse student body that embodies the wide range of human experience. In that context, we are interested in what you’d like to share about your lived experiences and how they’ve influenced how you think of yourself. Essay prompt #2. We believe there is benefit in sharing and sometimes questioning our beliefs or values; who do you agree with on the big important things, or who do you have your most interesting disagreements with? What are you agreeing or disagreeing about? Essay prompt #3. What has been your best academic experience in the last two years, and what made it so good? Essay prompt #4. Duke’s commitment to diversity and inclusion includes sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. If you’d like to share with us more about your identity in this context, feel free to do so here.

Duke University is looking for students with a variety of different experiences, backgrounds, interests, and opinions to make its campus community diverse and a place where ambition and curiosity, talent and persistence can grow, and the admissions committee will “consider what you have accomplished within the context of your opportunities and challenges so far”—make sure you tell them!

Diversity Essay Sample #3: University of Washington

The University of Washington asks students for a long essay (650 words) on a general experience that shaped your character, a short essay (300 words) that describes the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of your future university and allows you to submit additional information on potential hardships or limitations you have experienced in attaining your education so far. The University of Washington freshman writing website also offers some tips on how to (and how not to) write and format your essays.

Essay prompt [required] Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.

Short response prompt [required] Our families and communities often define us and our individual worlds. “Community” might refer to your cultural group, extended family, religious group, neighborhood or school, sports team or club, co-workers, etc. Describe the world you come from and how you, as a product of it, might add to the diversity of the UW.

Additional information about yourself or your circumstances [optional] You are not required to write anything in this section, but you may include additional information if something has particular significance to you. For example, you may use this space if:

– You have experienced personal hardships in attaining your education

– Your activities have been limited because of work or family obligations

– You have experienced limitations/opportunities unique to the schools you attended

The University of Washington’s mission is to enroll undergraduates with outstanding intellectual abilities who bring different perspectives, backgrounds, and talents to the campus to create a “stimulating educational environment”. The diversity essay is your chance to let them know how you will contribute to that.

Diversity Essay Sample #4: University of Michigan

At the University of Michigan, a diversity college essay that describes one of the communities (defined by geography, religion, ethnicity, income, or other factors) you belong to is one of two required essays that need to be submitted by all applicants, on top of the Common Application essay. 

Diversity essay prompt. Everyone belongs to many different communities and/or groups defined by (among other things) shared geography, religion, ethnicity, income, cuisine, interest, race, ideology, or intellectual heritage. Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.

The University of Michigan prides itself in “looking at each student as a whole package” and recruiting the most dynamic students, with different backgrounds, interests, and passions, into their college, not just the ones with the highest test scores. They also give consideration to applicants from currently underrepresented groups to create diversity on campus and enrich the learning environment for all students—if that sounds like you, then here is your opportunity to tell your story!

Frequently Asked Questions about Diversity Essays

What topics should i avoid in my college diversity essay.

Since the point of a diversity essay is to show the admissions committee who you are (behind your grades and resume and general educational background), there are not many topics you need to avoid. In fact, you can address the issues, from your own perspective, that you are usually told not to mention in order not to offend anyone or create controversy. 

The only exception is any kind of criminal activity, especially child abuse and neglect. The University of Washington, for example, has a statement on its essay prompt website that “ any written materials that give admissions staff reasonable cause to believe abuse or neglect of someone under the age of 18 may have occurred must be reported to Child Protective Services or the police. ”

What is most important to focus on in my diversity essay?

In brief, to stand out while not giving the admissions committee any reason to believe that you are exaggerating or even making things up. Your story needs to be authentic, and admissions officers—who read thousands of applications—will probably see right through you if you are trying to make yourself sound cooler, more mature, or more interesting than you are. 

In addition, make sure you let someone, preferably a professional editor, read over your essays and make sure they are well-written and error-free. Even though you are telling your personal story, it needs to be presented in standard, formal, correct English.

How long should a diversity essay be?

Every school has different requirements for their version of a diversity essay, and you will find all the necessary details on their admissions or essay prompts website. Make sure you check the word limit and other guidelines before you start typing away!

Prepare your college diversity essay for admission

Now that you know what a diversity essay is and how you find the specific requirements for the essays you need to submit to your school of choice, make sure you plan in advance and give yourself enough time to put all your effort into it! Our article How to Write the Common App Essay can give you an idea about timelines and creative preparation methods. And as always, we can help you with our professional editing services , including Application Essay Editing Services and Admission Editing Services , to ensure that your entire application is error-free and showcases your potential to the admissions committee of your school of choice.

For more academic resources on writing the statement of purpose for grad school or on the college admission process in general, head over to our Admissions Resources website where we have many more articles and videos to help you improve your essay writing skills.

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The Diversity College Essay: How to Write a Stellar Essay

What’s covered:, what’s covered in a diversity essay, what is a diversity essay, examples of the diversity essay prompt, how to write the diversity college essay after the end of affirmative action, tips for writing a diversity college essay.

The Diversity Essay exists because colleges want a student body that includes different ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, backgrounds, interests, and so on. The essay asks students to illuminate what sets them apart so that admissions committees can see what kind of diverse views and opinions they can bring to the campus.

In this post, we’ll be going over what exactly a diversity essay is, examples of real prompts and essays, and tips for writing a standout essay. You’ll be well prepared to answer this common essay prompt after reading this post!

Upon hearing the word diversity, many people assume that they have to write about gender and sexuality, class, or race. To many, this can feel overly personal or forced, or can cause students to worry that their identity isn’t unique or interesting enough. In reality, the diversity essay is much broader than many people realize.

Identity means different things to different people, and the important thing is that you demonstrate your uniqueness and what’s important to you. You might write about one of the classic, traditional identity features mentioned above, but you also could consider writing about a more unusual feature of yourself or your life—or even the intersection of two or more identities.

Consider these questions as you think about what to include in your diversity essay:

• Do you have a unique or unusual talent or skill? For example, you might be a person with perfect pitch, or one with a very accurate innate sense of direction.
• Do you have beliefs or values that are markedly different from the beliefs or values of those around you? Perhaps you hold a particular passion for scientific curiosity or truthfulness, even when it’s inconvenient.
• Do you have a hobby or interest that sets you apart from your peers? Maybe you’re an avid birder, or perhaps you love to watch old horror movies.
• Have you done or experienced something that few people have? Note that if you choose to write about a single event as a diverse identity feature, that event should have had a pretty substantial impact on you and your life. Perhaps you’re part of the 0.2% of the world that has run a marathon, or you’ve had the chance to watch wolves hunt in the wild.
• Do you have a role in life that gives you a special outlook on the world? Maybe one of your siblings has a rare disability, or you grew up in a town of less than 500 people.

Of course, if you would rather write about a more classic identity feature, you absolutely should! These questions are intended to help you brainstorm and get you thinking creatively about this prompt. You don’t need to dig deep for an extremely unusual diverse facet of yourself or your personality. If writing about something like ability, ethnicity, or gender feels more representative of your life experience, that can be an equally strong choice!

You should think expansively about your options and about what really demonstrates your individuality, but the most important thing is to be authentic and choose a topic that is truly meaningful to you.

Diversity essay prompts come up in both personal statements and supplemental essays. As with all college essays, the purpose of any prompt is to better understand who you are and what you care about. Your essays are your chance to share your voice and humanize your application. This is especially true for the diversity essay, which aims to understand your unique perspectives and experiences, as well as the ways in which you might contribute to a college community.

It’s worth noting that diversity essays are used in all kinds of selection processes beyond undergrad admissions—they’re seen in everything from graduate admissions to scholarship opportunities. You may very well need to write another diversity essay later in life, so it’s a good idea to get familiar with this essay archetype now.

If you’re not sure whether your prompt is best answered by a diversity essay, consider checking out our posts on other essay archetypes, like “Why This College?” , “Why This Major?” , and the Extracurricular Activity Essay .

The best-known diversity essay prompt is from the Common App . The first prompt states:

“Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.”

Some schools also have individual diversity essay prompts. For example, here’s one from Duke University :

“We believe a wide range of personal perspectives, beliefs, and lived experiences are essential to making Duke a vibrant and meaningful living and learning community. Feel free to share with us anything in this context that might help us better understand you and what you might bring to our community.” (250 words)

And here’s one from Rice :

“Rice is strengthened by its diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders and change agents across the spectrum of human endeavor. What perspectives shaped by your background, experiences, upbringing, and/or racial identity inspire you to join our community of change agents at Rice?” (500 words)

In all instances, colleges want you to demonstrate how and what you’ll contribute to their communities.

In June 2023, the Supreme Court overturned the use of affirmative action in college admissions, meaning that colleges are no longer able to directly factor race into admissions decisions. Despite this ruling, you can still discuss your racial or ethnic background in your Common App or supplemental essays.

If your race or ethnic heritage is important to you, we strongly recommend writing about it in one of your essays, as this is now one of the only ways that admissions committees are able to consider it as a factor in your admission.

Many universities still want to hear about your racial background and how it has impacted you, so you are likely to see diversity essays show up more frequently as part of supplemental essay packets. Remember, if you are seeing this kind of prompt, it’s because colleges care about your unique identity and life experience, and believe that these constitute an important part of viewing your application holistically. To learn more about how the end of affirmative action is impacting college admissions, check out our post for more details .

1. Highlight what makes you stand out.

A common misconception is that diversity only refers to aspects—such as ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. While these are standard measures of diversity, you can be diverse in other ways. These ways includes (but aren’t limited to) your:

• Interests, hobbies, and talents
• Perspectives, values, and opinions
• Experiences
• Personality traits

Ask yourself which aspects of your identity are most central to who you are. Are these aspects properly showcased in other portions of your application? Do you have any interests, experiences, or traits you want to highlight?

For instance, maybe you’re passionate about reducing food waste. You might love hiking and the outdoors. Or, maybe you’re a talented self-taught barber who’s given hundreds of free haircuts in exchange for donations to charity.

The topic of your essay doesn’t have to be crazy or even especially unique. You just want to highlight whatever is important to you, and how this thing shapes who you are. You might still want to write about a more common aspect of identity. If so, there are strong ways to do so.

If you do choose to write about a more common trait (for example, maybe your love of running), do so in a way that tells your story. Don’t just write an ode to running and how it’s stress-relieving and pushes you past your limits. Share your journey with us⁠—for instance, maybe you used to hate it, but you changed your mind one day and eventually trained to run a half marathon. Or, take us through your thought process during a race. The topic in itself is important, but how you write about it is even more important.

2. Share an anecdote.

One easy way to make your essay more engaging is to share a relevant and related story. The beginning of your essay is a great place for that, as it draws the reader in immediately. For instance, the following student chose to write about their Jewish identity, and opened the essay with a vivid experience of being discriminated against:

“I was thirsty. In my wallet was a lone $10 bill, ultimately useless at my school’s vending machine. Tasked with scrounging together the $1 cost of a water bottle, I fished out and arranged the spare change that normally hid at the bottom of my backpack in neat piles of nickels and dimes on my desk. I swept them into a spare Ziploc and began to leave when a classmate snatched the bag and held it above my head.

“Want your money back, Jew?” she chanted, waving the coins around. I had forgotten the Star-of-David around my neck, but quickly realized she must have seen it and connected it to the stacks of coins. I am no stranger to experiencing and confronting antisemitism, but I had never been targeted in my school before.”

An anecdote allows readers to experience what you’re describing, and to feel as if they’re there with you. This can ultimately help readers better relate to you.

Brainstorm some real-life stories relevant to the trait you want to feature. Possibilities include: a meaningful interaction, achieving a goal, a conflict, a time you felt proud of the trait (or ashamed of it), or the most memorable experience related to the trait. Your story could even be something as simple as describing your mental and emotional state while you’re doing a certain activity.

Whatever you decide on, consider sharing that moment in media res , or “in the middle of things.” Take us directly to the action in your story so we can experience it with you.

3. Show, don’t tell.

If you simply state what makes you diverse, it’s really easy for your essay to end up sounding bland. The writer of the previous essay example could’ve simply stated “I’m Jewish and I’ve had to face antisemitism.” This is a broad statement that doesn’t highlight their unique personal experiences. It doesn’t have the same emotional impact.

Instead, the writer illustrated an actual instance where they experienced antisemitism, which made the essay more vivid and easier to relate to. Even if we’re not Jewish ourselves, we can feel the anger and pain of being taunted for our background. This story is also unique to the writer’s life⁠—while others may have experienced discrimination, no one else will have had the exact same encounter.

As you’re writing, constantly evaluate whether or not you’re sharing a unique perspective. If what you write could’ve been written by someone else with a similar background or interest, you need to get more granular. Your personal experiences are what will make your essay unique, so share those with your reader.

4. Discuss how your diversity shapes your outlook and actions.

It’s important to describe not only what your unique traits and experiences are, but also how they shape who you are. You don’t have to explicitly say “this is how X trait impacts me” (you actually shouldn’t, as that would be telling instead of showing). Instead, you can reveal the impact of your diversity through the details you share.

Maybe playing guitar taught you the importance of consistent effort. Show us this through a story of how you tackled an extremely difficult piece you weren’t sure you could handle. Show us the calluses on your fingers, the knit brows as you tinkered with the chords, the countless lessons with your teacher. Show us your elation as you finally performed the piece.

Remember that colleges learn not just about who you are, but also about what you might contribute to their community. Take your essay one step farther and show admissions officers how your diversity impacts the way you approach your life.

Where to Get Your Diversity Essay Edited

Do you want feedback on your diversity essay? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Essay on Multiculturalism

Students are often asked to write an essay on Multiculturalism in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Multiculturalism

What is multiculturalism.

Multiculturalism is when people from different places, with different ways of living and different beliefs, come together in one society. It’s like a salad bowl, where each unique ingredient adds to the flavor, making it better.

Benefits of Multiculturalism

When we live in a place with many cultures, we learn a lot. We get to try new foods, celebrate different festivals, and make friends with different backgrounds. This teaches us to be kind and open-minded.

Challenges of Multiculturalism

Sometimes, people find it hard to understand each other’s ways. This can lead to disagreements. But, talking and learning about each other’s cultures can help solve these problems.

Multiculturalism in Schools

Schools are great for multiculturalism. Kids learn about the world’s cultures and languages. This helps them become better citizens of the world, ready to work and live with all kinds of people.

250 Words Essay on Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is when many different cultures live together in one place. Imagine a school where students come from all around the world. They may speak different languages, eat different foods, and celebrate different holidays. This mix of cultures adds variety and can make life more interesting.

Living in a multicultural society is like having the world at your doorstep. You get to learn about other ways of life without traveling far. For example, you can try different types of food, listen to new music, and make friends with people who have different stories to tell. This can help us become more understanding and accepting of others.

Sometimes, when people from different backgrounds live together, they might not agree on everything. It can be hard to understand someone who is very different from you. But it’s important to talk and listen to each other. This is how we can solve problems and live together peacefully.

Learning from Each Other

In a place full of different cultures, we can learn a lot from each other. We can see that even though we might do things differently, we often have the same hopes and dreams. By sharing our cultures, we can teach each other new things and grow together.

In conclusion, multiculturalism is about different cultures living together and learning from one another. It has its ups and downs, but it makes our world a more exciting and caring place.

500 Words Essay on Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is like a big garden with many different types of flowers. Each flower has its own color, shape, and smell. This garden is more beautiful because it has so many kinds of flowers. In the same way, multiculturalism means having people from many different cultures and backgrounds living together in one place. Just like each flower adds beauty to the garden, every culture adds something special to a country or community.

When people from different cultures come together, they share their ways of life, their food, music, and stories. This sharing makes life more interesting for everyone. Imagine eating the same food every day; it would be boring. But in a multicultural place, you can try new foods, learn new dances, and hear different languages. It’s like going on a trip around the world without leaving your home.

In a multicultural school, you might have friends from different countries. You can learn from them about their holidays, how they dress, and what games they play. This is not just fun, but it also helps you understand how people see the world in different ways. By learning about other cultures, you become smarter and more understanding. It’s like each new friend is a new book full of exciting stories and lessons.

Sometimes, having many cultures together can be hard. People might not understand each other because they speak different languages or have different customs. It’s like when you play a team game, and everyone has different rules. To play well together, you need to learn the same rules. In multiculturalism, the “rules” are respect and kindness. When everyone follows these rules, it’s easier to get along.

How to Support Multiculturalism

You can support multiculturalism by being curious and open-minded. This means wanting to learn about other cultures and not being afraid of things that are different. It’s like trying a new sport; at first, it might feel strange, but you might end up loving it. You can also support multiculturalism by standing up for your friends if someone is not being nice to them because they are from a different culture.

Multiculturalism is like a colorful quilt. Each piece of fabric is different, but when sewn together, they make something warm and beautiful. Living in a multicultural world helps us learn, grow, and understand each other better. It’s important to remember that even though we might look or speak differently, inside, we all have feelings, dreams, and the need to be loved and respected. So, let’s celebrate the beauty of every culture and build a world where everyone feels like they belong.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Multicultural Diversity
• Essay on Mother Nature
• Essay on Favourite Holiday Destination

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

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May 11, 2023

Writing an Excellent Diversity Essay

What is the diversity question in a school application, and why does it matter when applying to leading programs and universities? Most importantly, how should you respond?

Diversity is of supreme value in higher education, and schools want to know how every student will contribute to it in their community. A diversity essay is an essay that encourages applicants with disadvantaged or underrepresented backgrounds, an unusual education, a distinctive experience, or a unique family history to write about how these elements of their background have prepared them to play a useful role in increasing and encouraging diversity among their target program’s student body and broader community.

In this post, we’ll cover the following topics: 

How to show you can add to diversity

Why diversity matters at school, seven examples that reveal diversity, how to write about your diversity, diversity essay example, want to ensure your application demonstrates the diversity that your dream school is seeking.

If you are an immigrant to the United States, the child of immigrants, or someone whose ethnicity is underrepresented in the States, your response to “How will you add to the diversity of our class/community?” and similar questions might help your application efforts. Why? Because you can use it to show how your background will add a distinctive perspective to the program you are applying to.

Download this sample personal background essay, and see how one candidate won over the adcom and got accepted into their top-choice MBA program.

Of course, if you’re not from a group that is underrepresented in your field or a disadvantaged group, that doesn’t mean that you don’t have anything to write about in a diversity essay.

For example, you might have an unusual or special experience to share, such as serving in the military, being a member of a dance troupe, or caring for a disabled relative. These and other distinctive experiences can convey how you will contribute to the diversity of the school’s campus.

You could be the first member of your family to apply to college or the first to learn English in your household. Perhaps you have worked your way through college or helped raise your siblings. You might also have been an ally to those who are underrepresented, disadvantaged, or marginalized in your community, at your previous school, or in an earlier work experience. 

As you can see, diversity is not limited to one’s religion, ethnicity, culture, language, or sexual orientation. It refers to whatever element of your identity  distinguishes you from others and shows that you, too, value diversity.

Admissions officers believe diversity in the classroom improves the educational experience of all the students involved. They also believe that having a diverse workforce better serves society as a whole.

The more diverse perspectives found in the classroom, throughout the dorms, in the dining halls, and mixed into study groups, the richer the discussions will be.

Plus, learning and growing in this kind of multicultural environment will prepare students for working in our increasingly multicultural and global world.

In medicine, for example, a heterogeneous workforce benefits people from previously underrepresented cultures. Businesses realize they will market more effectively if they can speak to different audiences and markets, which is possible when members of their workforce come from different backgrounds and cultures. Schools simply want to prepare graduates for the 21st century job market.

Adcoms want to know about your personal diversity elements and the way they have helped you develop particular character and personality traits , as well as the unusual experiences that have shaped you.

Here are seven examples an applicant could write about:

• They grew up with a strong insistence on respecting elders, attending family events, or learning their parents’ native language and culture.
• They are close to grandparents and extended family members who have taught them how teamwork can help everyone thrive.
• They have had to face difficulties that stem from their parents’ values being in conflict with theirs or those of their peers.
• Teachers have not always understood the elements of their culture or lifestyle and how those elements influence their performance.
• They suffered from discrimination and succeeded despite it because of their grit, values, and character.
• They learned skills from a lifestyle that is outside the norm (e.g., living in foreign countries as the child of a diplomat or contractor; performing professionally in theater, dance, music, or sports; having a deaf sibling).
• They’ve encountered racism or other prejudice (either toward themselves or others) and responded by actively promoting diverse, tolerant values.

And remember, it’s not just about who your parents are. It’s about who you are – at the core.

Your background, influences, religious observances, language, ideas, work environment, community experiences – all these factors come together to create a unique individual, one who will contribute to a varied class of distinct individuals taking their place in a diverse world.

Your answer to the diversity question should focus on how your experiences have built your empathy for others, your embrace of differences, your resilience, your character, and your perspective.

The school might well ask how you think of diversity or how you can bring or add to the diversity of your school, chosen profession, or community. Make sure you answer the specific question posed by highlighting distinctive elements of your profile that will add to the class mosaic every adcom is trying to create. You don’t want to blend in; you want to stand out in a positive way while also complementing the school’s canvas.

Here’s a simple, three-part framework that will help you think of diversity more, well, diversely:

• Identity : Who are you? What has contributed to your identity? How do you distinguish yourself? Your identity can include any of the following: gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, religion, nontraditional work experience, nontraditional educational background, multicultural background, and family’s educational level.
• Deeds : What have you done? What have you accomplished? This could include any of the following: achievements inside and/or outside your field of study, leadership opportunities, community service, , internship or professional experience, research opportunities, hobbies, and travel. Any or all of these could be unique. Also, what life-derailing, throw-you-for-a-loop challenges have you faced and overcome?
• Ideas : How do you think? How do you approach things? What drives you? What influences you? Are you the person who can break up a tense meeting with some well-timed humor? Are you the one who intuitively sees how to bring people together? 

Learn more about this three-part framework in this podcast episode.

Think about each question within this framework and how you could apply your diversity elements to the classroom, your school, or your community. Any of these elements will serve as the framework for your essay.

Don’t worry if you can’t think of something totally “out there.” You don’t need to be a tightrope walker living in the Andes or a Buddhist monk from Japan to pass the diversity test!

And please remember, the examples I have listed are not exhaustive. There are many other ways to show diversity!

All you need to write successfully about how you will contribute to the rich diversity of your target school’s community is to examine your identity, deeds, and ideas, with an eye toward your personal distinctiveness and individuality. There is only one you .

Want our advice on how you can best show diversity?

Click here to sign up for a free consultation.

Take a look at this sample diversity essay, and pay attention to how the writer underscores their appreciation for and experience with diversity. 

When I was starting 11 th grade, my dad, an agricultural scientist, was assigned to a 3-month research project in a farm village in Niigata (northwest Honshu in Japan). Rather than stay behind with my mom and siblings, I begged to go with him. As a straight-A student, I convinced my parents and the principal that I could handle my schoolwork remotely (pre-COVID) for that stretch. It was time to leap beyond my comfortable suburban Wisconsin life—and my Western orientation, reinforced by travel to Europe the year before. 

We roomed in a sprawling farmhouse with a family participating in my dad’s study. I thought I’d experience an “English-free zone,” but the high school students all studied and wanted to practice English, so I did meet peers even though I didn’t attend their school. Of the many eye-opening, influential, cultural experiences, the one that resonates most powerfully to me is experiencing their community. It was a living, organic whole. Elementary school kids spent time helping with the rice harvest. People who foraged for seasonal wild edibles gave them to acquaintances throughout the town. In fact, there was a constant sharing of food among residents—garden veggies carried in straw baskets, fish or meat in coolers. The pharmacist would drive prescriptions to people who couldn’t easily get out—new mothers, the elderly—not as a business service but as a good neighbor. If rain suddenly threatened, neighbors would bring in each other’s drying laundry. When an empty-nest 50-year-old woman had to be hospitalized suddenly for a near-fatal snakebite, neighbors maintained her veggie patch until she returned. The community embodied constant awareness of others’ needs and circumstances. The community flowed!

Yet, people there lamented that this lifestyle was vanishing; more young people left than stayed or came. And it wasn’t idyllic: I heard about ubiquitous gossip, long-standing personal enmities, busybody-ness. But these very human foibles didn’t dam the flow. This dynamic community organism couldn’t have been more different from my suburban life back home, with its insular nuclear families. We nod hello to neighbors in passing. 

This wonderful experience contained a personal challenge. Blond and blue-eyed, I became “the other” for the first time. Except for my dad, I saw no Westerner there. Curious eyes followed me. Stepping into a market or walking down the street, I drew gazes. People swiftly looked away if they accidentally caught my eye. It was not at all hostile, I knew, but I felt like an object. I began making extra sure to appear “presentable” before going outside. The sense of being watched sometimes generated mild stress or resentment. Returning to my lovely tatami room, I would decompress, grateful to be alone. I realized this challenge was a minute fraction of what others experience in my own country. The toll that feeling—and being— “other” takes on non-white and visibly different people in the US can be extremely painful. Experiencing it firsthand, albeit briefly, benignly, and in relative comfort, I got it.

Unlike the organic Niigata community, work teams, and the workplace itself, have externally driven purposes. Within this different environment, I will strive to exemplify the ongoing mutual awareness that fueled the community life in Niigata. Does it benefit the bottom line, improve the results? I don’t know. But it helps me be the mature, engaged person I want to be, and to appreciate the individuals who are my colleagues and who comprise my professional community. I am now far more conscious of people feeling their “otherness”—even when it’s not in response to negative treatment, it can arise simply from awareness of being in some way different.

What did you think of this essay? Does this middle class Midwesterner have the unique experience of being different from the surrounding majority, something she had not experienced in the United States? Did she encounter diversity from the perspective of “the other”? 

Here a few things to note about why this diversity essay works so well:

• The writer comes from “a comfortable, suburban, Wisconsin life,” suggesting that her own background might not be ethnically, racially, or in other ways diverse.
• The diversity “points” scored all come from her fascinating  experience of having lived in a Japanese farm village, where she immersed herself in a totally different culture.
• The lessons learned about the meaning of community are what broaden and deepen the writer’s perspective about life, about a purpose-driven life, and about the concept of “otherness.” 

By writing about a time when you experienced diversity in one of its many forms, you can write a memorable and meaningful diversity essay.

Working on your diversity essay?

Want to ensure that your application demonstrates the diversity that your dream school is seeking? Work with one of our admissions experts and . This checklist includes more than 30 different ways to think about diversity to jump-start your creative engines.

Related Resources:

•  Different Dimensions of Diversity , a podcast episode • What to Do if You Belong to an Overrepresented Applicant Group • Med School Admissions Advice for Nontraditional Applicants: The Experts Speak

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Cultural Identity Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

No matter where you study, composing essays of any type and complexity is a critical component in any studying program. Most likely, you have already been assigned the task to write a cultural identity essay, which is an essay that has to do a lot with your personality and cultural background. In essence, writing a cultural identity essay is fundamental for providing the reader with an understanding of who you are and which outlook you have. This may include the topics of religion, traditions, ethnicity, race, and so on. So, what shall you do to compose a winning cultural identity essay?

Cultural Identity Paper: Definitions, Goals & Topics 

Before starting off with a cultural identity essay, it is fundamental to uncover what is particular about this type of paper. First and foremost, it will be rather logical to begin with giving a general and straightforward definition of a cultural identity essay. In essence, cultural identity essay implies outlining the role of the culture in defining your outlook, shaping your personality, points of view regarding a multitude of matters, and forming your qualities and beliefs. Given a simpler definition, a cultural identity essay requires you to write about how culture has influenced your personality and yourself in general. So in this kind of essay you as a narrator need to give an understanding of who you are, which strengths you have, and what your solid life position is.

Yet, the goal of a cultural identity essay is not strictly limited to describing who you are and merely outlining your biography. Instead, this type of essay pursues specific objectives, achieving which is a perfect indicator of how high-quality your essay is. Initially, the primary goal implies outlining your cultural focus and why it makes you peculiar. For instance, if you are a french adolescent living in Canada, you may describe what is so special about it: traditions of the community, beliefs, opinions, approaches. Basically, you may talk about the principles of the society as well as its beliefs that made you become the person you are today.

So far, cultural identity is a rather broad topic, so you will likely have a multitude of fascinating ideas for your paper. For instance, some of the most attention-grabbing topics for a personal cultural identity essay are:

• Memorable traditions of your community
• A cultural event that has influenced your personality 
• Influential people in your community
• Locations and places that tell a lot about your culture and identity

Cultural Identity Essay Structure

As you might have already guessed, composing an essay on cultural identity might turn out to be fascinating but somewhat challenging. Even though the spectrum of topics is rather broad, the question of how to create the most appropriate and appealing structure remains open.

Like any other kind of an academic essay, a cultural identity essay must compose of three parts: introduction, body, and concluding remarks. Let’s take a more detailed look at each of the components:

Introduction 

Starting to write an essay is most likely one of the most time-consuming and mind-challenging procedures. Therefore, you can postpone writing your introduction and approach it right after you finish body paragraphs. Nevertheless, you should think of a suitable topic as well as come up with an explicit thesis. At the beginning of the introduction section, give some hints regarding the matter you are going to discuss. You have to mention your thesis statement after you have briefly guided the reader through the topic. You can also think of indicating some vital information about yourself, which is, of course, relevant to the topic you selected.

Your main body should reveal your ideas and arguments. Most likely, it will consist of 3-5 paragraphs that are more or less equal in size. What you have to keep in mind to compose a sound ‘my cultural identity essay’ is the argumentation. In particular, always remember to reveal an argument and back it up with evidence in each body paragraph. And, of course, try to stick to the topic and make sure that you answer the overall question that you stated in your topic. Besides, always keep your thesis statement in mind: make sure that none of its components is left without your attention and argumentation.

Conclusion 

Finally, after you are all finished with body paragraphs and introduction, briefly summarize all the points in your final remarks section. Paraphrase what you have already revealed in the main body, and make sure you logically lead the reader to the overall argument. Indicate your cultural identity once again and draw a bottom line regarding how your culture has influenced your personality.

Best Tips For Writing Cultural Identity Essay

Writing a ‘cultural identity essay about myself’ might be somewhat challenging at first. However, you will no longer struggle if you take a couple of plain tips into consideration. Following the tips below will give you some sound and reasonable cultural identity essay ideas as well as make the writing process much more pleasant:

• Start off by creating an outline. The reason why most students struggle with creating a cultural identity essay lies behind a weak structure. The best way to organize your ideas and let them flow logically is to come up with a helpful outline. Having a reference to build on is incredibly useful, and it allows your essay to look polished.
• Remember to write about yourself. The task of a cultural identity essay implies not focusing on your culture per se, but to talk about how it shaped your personality. So, switch your focus to describing who you are and what your attitudes and positions are. 
• Think of the most fundamental cultural aspects. Needless to say, you first need to come up with a couple of ideas to be based upon in your paper. So, brainstorm all the possible ideas and try to decide which of them deserve the most attention. In essence, try to determine which of the aspects affected your personality the most.
• Edit and proofread before submitting your paper. Of course, the content and the coherence of your essay’s structure play a crucial role. But the grammatical correctness matters a lot too. Even if you are a native speaker, you may still make accidental errors in the text. To avoid the situation when unintentional mistakes spoil the impression from your essay, always double check your cultural identity essay. 

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Positive Effects of Multiculturalism: Essay Example

Multiculturalism essay: introduction, multiculturalism essay: main body, multiculturalism essay: conclusion.

With the rise of trends towards the globalized world, the countries have become open welcoming people from all over the globe. Such openness could not but lead to the outbursts of migration and mixing of cultures. This issue is especially acute in the case of the developed states with higher standards of living and better conditions for employment, obtaining education, and self-expression. When a country is settled with people of mixed cultures, it means that it is multicultural. This phenomenon is known as multiculturalism. It is not long known but has already become a subject of fierce debates. Even though there is a standpoint that multiculturalism is a negative outcome of globalization, I do believe that the positive aspects of living in a multicultural state outweigh the negative ones.

First of all, it is vital to understand the essence of multiculturalism to detect its advantages and disadvantages. The origins of this phenomenon come from migration. It does not really matter what was the reason for it and whether it was forced or desired. The only thing that matters is that people moved from one country and settled down in another. The most significant feature of a multicultural country is not that its population consists of people who have different cultural backgrounds, but the fact that they are recognized and accepted. What is even more crucial is that the interests of minorities are represented in the institutions of power, these groups are integrated into society and public debate, and enjoy rights equal to those of the native people (Maciel, 2014). The primary idea of the multicultural ideology is that the society should strive to reduce intergroup conflicts and appreciate cultural uniqueness (Levin et al., 2012), thus, long for harmony and equality.

There are many positive outcomes of living in a multicultural society. First of all, when people live in a country settled by diverse ethnic groups, it leads to the elimination of prejudice and social dominance towards the representatives of cultural minorities (Kauff, Asbrock, Thörner, & Wagner, 2013). Such societies tend to be more friendly and safer in comparison to those that live in the condition of ethnic bias. It is true that if people stop seeing the difference in skin color or the background as a source of threat, they find it easier to cohabit and cease to fight for leadership. Moreover, they embrace cultural peculiarities of different minorities learning more about their traditions, habits, food, etc. It leads to broadening worldview and increasing knowledge together with learning to accept other people and their right to individuality (Dendy & Pe-Pua, 2010). Some may even see it as a way of finding out more about the world without traveling because the representatives of many cultures are gathered in one place and there is always an opportunity to get to know them.

Furthermore, multiculturalism is positive from the perspective of changing the culture itself. It is often criticized for lifting the boundaries between the cultures and erasing the uniqueness of ethnic minorities and, thus, creating a single globalized culture. It is true to some extent but, in fact, I do not think that it can be viewed as a negative outcome of existing multiculturalism. Instead, cultural diversity is a positive phenomenon in a way that it might help establish some new beautiful culture embracing the most fascinating elements of all the minorities’ traditions involved. It can become a tool for making people of different backgrounds have some things in common and lead to better understanding and deeper interconnectedness. The point here is that it is a choice of every representative of a minority whether he or she wants to forget about the historical past and move further ignoring the habits and traditions of the group.

Second, living in a multicultural society teaches tolerance and combats discrimination and racism (Taylor, 2012). We live in a world of bias based on gender, skin color, sexual orientation, cultural background, and any other kind of difference. I believe that recognizing that every ethnic group is unique is a first step to creating a society resting on the foundations of human dignity and tolerance. Of course, there may be a belief that discrimination is justifiable when it comes to equal rights to employment or gaining education, but I think that these are skills and intellectual abilities that should become the criteria for making such decisions, not the individual’s ethnic background. Eradicating this suspicion from the consciousness of the society is a vital step towards lifting discrimination and establishing harmony. It would also help create somewhat family-like relations in the community.

Finally, one should bear in mind that cultural diversity is beneficial not only for changing societal consciousness but also from the economic perspective. First of all, it is positive from the point of view that immigrants are more willing to fill low-paid positions, so that it leads to the drop in the level of unemployment. It is especially true in the case of the developed countries where the native people usually are more skilled and have higher levels of educational backgrounds. Multiculturalism also promotes creating new working places for the low-skilled workforce, increases the level of consumption and, as a result, the output. So, it motivates economic development (Dendy & Pe-Pua, 2010). What should not be ignored, however, is the fact that coming from an ethnical minority does not necessarily mean lower level of skills and knowledge. Today, involving people from different countries has become a practice that is broadly used by multinational corporations. The motivation for exercising it is that bringing together those who have diverse cultural backgrounds and experience has proved to be beneficial for developing a more effective problem-solving and decision-making mechanisms and improving the company’s overall performance.

Even though living in a multicultural society has many positive aspects, there are also some negative sides of this phenomenon. First of all, even if people of majority accept the ethnic minorities and their uniqueness, there is no guarantee that the same is true of these minor groups. That said, multiculturalism is often a source of conflicts among the representatives of different ethnic minorities (Kauff et al., 2013). It often leads to the creation of gangs, and the confrontation between them is bloody and cruel, so, it often affects innocent people not to mention the members of the groupings themselves. Moreover, openness to immigration and establishing cultural diversion might become a source of higher levels of crime because except for the possible intergroup conflicts and organized crime, it may lead to becoming involved in prostitution, drug dealing, etc. The reason for such negative outcomes of multiculturalism is evident – people from ethnic minorities often find it difficult to integrate into the society and find the jobs, especially if the level of their knowledge and skills is lower than the market demands, that is why choosing a criminal path of life is often their only option to make a living.

It should be said, however, that even if the representatives of cultural minorities do not form gangs or get involved in criminal or extremist activities, they still might break down into groups that do not want to get in contact with the rest of the society or follow the established rules (Christensen, 2012). Such developments in the multicultural society inevitably lead to the growth of isolation and mistrust, even though not necessarily entails the increase in the level of crimes. What is also troubling about living in a multicultural society is that people often do not understand each other not because of the differences in the ethnic backgrounds but because of speaking different languages. It is not a negative effect of multiculturalism in the first place, but it adds to the isolation of the smaller groups and makes them feel suppressed and worse than the members of the majority.

Together with the issue of language, there is also the matter of arrogance and ignorance that leads to building up barriers between the members of the minority groups and the rest of the society. Nevertheless, multiculturalism is, to my mind, a positive outcome of globalization, discrimination and bias were always present in the societal consciousness, that is why it is extremely difficult to eradicate them and make people believe in human’s dignity without regard to the ethnic background. So, what is significant about multicultural society is that the recognition and acceptance of cultural peculiarities and integration of ethnic minorities are the highest levels of the social relations evolution. At first, it is one of the additional sources of social inequality and intolerance, as these groups often suffer from suppression and discrimination because they are treated differently and usually occupy lower positions that those belonging to the natives, even if the newcomers are more skilled or educated. That is why the positive effects of multiculturalism are achieved later when people get used to the thought that the presence of ethnic minorities and their integration is inevitable. Moreover, developing institutions of power that would represent ethnic groups and mechanisms for involving them in the social debate also takes time.

In the conclusion I would like to say that even though the negative aspects of living in a multicultural society are significant, it is possible to deal with them through developing the robust dialogue and demonstrating the desire to reach harmony and mutual understanding. I believe that if people find the strength to overcome the difficulties in making ethnic minorities a part of the society, the outcomes will be fantastic because cultural diversity is the unlimited source of creativity and positive shifts in every sphere of social life. What is more crucial, embracing multiculturalism is a perfect way to make the world a better place to live because it decreases the level of hostility among the representatives of different ethnicities and leads to establishing peace and harmony not only in the streets but also in people’s minds.

Christensen, E. (2012). Revisiting multiculturalism and its critics. The Monist, 95 (1), 33-48.

Dendy, J., & Pe-Pua, R. (2010). Attitudes to multiculturalism, immigration and cultural diversity: Comparison of dominant and non-dominant groups in three Australian states. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 34 (1), 34-46.

Kauff, M., Asbrock, F., Thörner, S., & Wagner, U. (2013). Side effects of multiculturalism: The interaction effect of a multicultural ideology and authoritarianism on prejudice and diversity beliefs. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39 (3), 305-320.

Levin, S., Matthews, M., Guimind, S., Sidanius, J., Pratto, F., Kteily, N., & Dover, T. (2012). Assimilation, multiculturalism, and colorblindness: Mediated and moderated relationships between social dominance orientation and prejudice. Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology , 48 (1), 207-212.

Maciel, R. (2014). The future of liberal multiculturalism. Political Studies Review, 12 (3), 383-394.

Taylor, C. (2012). Interculturalism or multiculturalism? Philosophy and Social Criticism, 38 (4-5), 413-423.

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What is Multicultural Education

This essay about multicultural education discusses its role as a guiding light in creating diverse and inclusive educational settings. It emphasizes the appreciation and integration of various cultures, languages, and histories to enrich collective learning. The text highlights the importance of cultural competence and responsive teaching, advocating for collaborative learning and community partnerships to achieve educational equity. Multicultural education is portrayed as essential for fostering respect, empathy, and a deeper understanding among students, shaping a future where diversity is viewed as a strength.

How it works

Multicultural teaching serves a headlight, guiding we through the number tilled various variant, lights up a road despite one contain academic settlements, where organ every type hears he and every only prospect enriches our collective understanding. It educational access outstrips mere pedagogical strategy; she incarnates philosophy, that estimates an array prosperous man, difficult, deep-seated experience and identical.

In his heart, multicultural teaching approves a coincidence cultures, languages, custom, and historical capitals well-assorted in borders educational place, transforming they in a tapestry points look various prosperous.

It separates he from one does not import what singular, homogeneous stallion, celebrates a mosaic as it, that a variety brings prosperous, encourages enseigne environment, where distinctions actively celebrated instead of that simply overcooked.

In an ecosystem multicultural teaching, students actively attract despite a trip self-discovery and the tilled research, understands their net capitals, grows a compassion and consideration, because dig them in cultures other. This process encourages, for them investigated groups their identical propre with other’, cultivating value variety unit between.

Central despite multicultural teaching is a concept the competence, tilled inclination to estimate and navigate the distinctions tilled deferentially, understands, and obedience. It includes more than undertakes only; it entails after an obligation to continuous talks, examination the preconceived ideas, and directs he despite prejudices, to encourage truly contains society.

However, multicultural justice school champions and main shareholder public in borders educational possession, pushes for politics and practices, these move educational barriers and student organs historically weigh minor group. It is a preventive appeal despite pedagogics, to direct he despite systematic injustices the nearest future and, to prepare educational environments, where whole students repose he fanciful and capable despite gets success. Pedagogics, hire tilled responsive teach strategies, create greeting espaces, where students can see itself in material, that study them, repose he interested, to discover anymore from the world, and appear he the future consideration and mutual understanding.

Partners teach stands so as the key limits multicultural teaching, pulls out a dialogue and collaboration through tilled divides. These transforms student in helpers, that stéréotypes a sporting contest, preventive and build bridges association. Do them his the manoeuvres to estimate a variety so as treasure force and innovation.

Draws out after walls school, multicultural teaching attained in society, one build terms and wedding rings, that increase educational goes for a walk vast. Families, community groups, and the tilled centers become the most general partners in aspiration for educational main shareholder, creates a side sideways pedagogics, to forge successes roads for whole students.

In eventual addition, multicultural teaching is a walk research, lights up, and evidential delegation, cuts the borders tilled and celebrates a variety a man complements experience. These invite us the future defenders for inclusivity, pioneers change, and defenders main shareholder, inhales to create the future, where a variety is accepted not only, and and knew so as asset, and where encourage, for each person attained them much better whole.

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5 Multicultural Societies

Research Professor, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation

David L. Sam, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen

• Published: 13 January 2014
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Multiculturalism is first discussed as the basic presence of cultural diversity in a society. It is then presented as an orientation (in public policy) toward this diversity. It is distinguished from pluralism (where there is only diversity) by noting that multiculturalism policy and practice has two core features: in addition to the presence of cultural diversity, multiculturalism also requires intercultural contact and equitable participation of all cultural elements in the life of the larger society (sometimes referred to as interculturalism). The concept of intercultural strategies is presented as a guide to understanding variations in public policy and public attitudes toward multiculturalism. Selected psychological studies of multiculturalism are then reviewed, including those on multicultural attitudes, and as well as studies examining three hypotheses derived from multiculturalism policies. Conclusions are then advanced, including the challenges and impediments in achieving full multiculturalism, and a discussion of the psychological benefits (and costs) of accepting multiculturalism, both by the society and by cultural groups and individual members.

Introduction

In the grand sweep of human history, from China and India, through the Hellenic, Roman, Ottoman, and European empires, there has been a persistent question of how cultural communities and their individual members should live together in culturally diverse societies. There are obvious political, economic, and cultural dimensions to this question; these aspects have been examined by social scientists over the decades (e.g., Fleras, 2009 ; Huntington, 2005; Ryan, 2010 ). They have also been addressed by social philosophers ( Barry, 2001 ; Fowers & Richardson 1996 ; Kymlicka, 1995 , 2001 , 2012 ; Taylor, 1992 ) who pose basic questions about the moral underpinnings and logical contradictions inherent in multiculturalism. However, there are also fundamental psychological dimensions, ones that are situated in the views and characteristics of individuals ( Berry, 1997a ; Lott, 2010 ; Moghaddam, 2008a ). Among these are the attitudes, identities, and behaviors of persons who are involved in the daily interactions within and across cultural borders ( Ward & Leong, 2006 ), as well as the the process of acculturation ( Sam & Berry, 2006 ). In this chapter, we focus on these psychological aspects. However, as is for all cultural and cross-cultural psychology, the sociocultural contexts of these behaviors, and the international scope of these phenomena, demand our attention ( Berry, Poortinga, Breugelmans, Chasiotis, & Sam, 2011 ).

The notion of societies and their populations as multicultural has at least three aspects. The first is that virtually all contemporary societies/countries are culturally diverse, in the sense that there are no societies/countries that have only one cultural or ethnic group in their population, none with only one language spoken by all members, and none in which all members share a single cultural or civic identity ( UNESCO, 2009 ). This presence of many cultural groups within a society/country may be referred to as “multiculturalism as fact,” or “multiculturalism as cultural pluralism” in a society.

The second aspect is the presence (or absence) of a policy to deal with this cultural diversity. Some societies seek to reduce (or even to eliminate) cultural diversity, such as France ( Sabatier & Boutry, 2006 ), whereas others have official policies and practices to promote the continuation of such diversity, such as Canada ( Noels & Berry, 2006 ). This may be termed “multiculturalism as policy.”

The third aspect is the degree to which individuals hold positive or negative attitudes toward cultural diversity and intercultural contact as fact and as policy. These attitudes can be directed toward their own cultural and ethnic group, or toward those of other groups. Here, the psychological dimensions of multiculturalism come into play. These aspects may be termed the “psychology of multiculturalism.”

These three ways of conceptualizing multiculturalism will form the bulk of the present chapter. Research findings regarding the different positions will also be presented. At the end of the chapter, we will discuss the benefits of multiculturalism in light of the different conceptualizations.

Multiculturalism as pluralism

Cultural pluralism refers to the presence, within a single nation state, of multiple cultural communities ( Brooks, 2002 ). Plural societies are made up of various kinds of cultural groups. These groups have been identified in Western societies by He and Kymlicka (2005) as: indigenous peoples (such as Aboriginal peoples in Australia and Canada); national minorities (such as Basque in Spain and France); and immigrant groups/ethnic groups (such as Chinese and Indian peoples in Malaysia and Singapore). However, other kinds of groups may be needed to adequately describe the composition of plural societies in other regions, such as Asia and Africa. These include cultural groups that transcend national borders (such as Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran); and those cultural groups that became incorporated into new nation states in Africa as a result of colonialism (such as Nigeria).

Types of cultural groups in plural societies

One approach to expanding this set of cultural groups is to note that groups of people and their individual members find themselves living in plural societies for a variety of reasons. Some people actually migrate themselves; some groups are the result of earlier generations of new settlements; and some have stayed where they are but have come to be dominated by the new settlement of others. Some migrate and are in contact voluntarily, whereas others are involuntarily in such situations. All of these result in the establishment of culturally plural societies, in which peoples of differing cultural backgrounds rub shoulders with each other on a daily basis. The contact situations that result in plural societies differ from each other because of these variations in reasons for new settlement. These differences have psychological implications, because they involve different motives, attitudes, coping strategies, and stress reactions.

These variations are presented in Figure 5. 1 , arranged along three dimensions. The mobility dimension contrasts those peoples who move to another society (as migrants) with those who stay where they are; the voluntariness dimension contrasts those peoples who want to be in contact with those who do not; and the permanence dimension contrasts those who are likely to remain in contact with those who may move away from contact. The types of contact situations generated by crossing these three dimensions reveal a number of well-known kinds of groups.

Types of cultural groups in plural societies (From, Berry, 2006a ).

Immigrants are those who (usually) move voluntarily to another society and who are there relatively permanently. In contrast, while sojourners have the same mobility and voluntary qualities as immigrants, they are only temporarily away from home (such as international students, diplomats, and guest workers). Ethnocultural groups are the descendents of earlier new settlements who have maintained a sense of their cultural origins and who form communities in their diasporas. They can derive from voluntary migrants (such as French-Canadians, Greek-Australians, and Chinese-Americans). They can also be derived from involuntary migrants (such as African communities of former slaves in the Caribbean and the United States), who now are generally in contact with others on a voluntary basis. Indigenous peoples are those who are already on their home territories, but are engaged in intercultural contact with those who have migrated there to colonize or dominate them. These contacts are often involuntary because they neither invited colonization, nor did they seek their incorporation into larger nation states with a subsequent presence in their lives by with potentially more political and economic power than themselves. In some societies (e.g., China, India), these groups are referred to as national minorities . Finally, nonvoluntary migrants are made up of refugees (who have been forced to migrate, but who have obtained the right to permanent settlement in a new society) and asylum seekers (who await a decision, often in camps, about their possible repatriation). In this chapter, those groups that have migrated (immigrants, sojourners, and refugees) are the main focus.

These distinctions are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive. For example, many sojourners (such as international students or domestic caregivers) are able to become immigrants after a period of time, and increasingly, there are transnational migrants who move from country to country, sometimes gaining citizenship in many countries. However, such distinctions serve to draw our attention to some psychological qualities that differentiate among types of groups. Most important among these psychological factors are the motivations to be in (or to avoid) intercultural contact. Among nondominant peoples, the attitudes toward contact will vary according to the degree of voluntariness: those who have been imposed upon or those who have been uprooted are likely to have a negative orientation toward contact and change. Those who are only temporarily in contact may also have minimal interest in engaging in serious intercultural contact and change. Among members of the socially dominant people in the larger society, attitudes are also likely to vary. The reasons to colonize or enslave are likely to be rooted in negative attitudes toward those so treated. With respect to immigrants, there are large variations in dominant groups’ attitudes: some view immigrants as an economic necessity to societal growth and as a source of cultural enrichment, whereas others see them as an economic and cultural threat to their society. Similarly, with respect to refugees, some view them as a threat, whereas others see them as an opportunity to put into practice their humanitarian values. See Berry (2006a) for an overview of these types of groups and their differential demographic, social and psychological characteristics.

Intercultural strategies in plural societies

There are two contrasting positions with respect to the continuation of such cultural diversity in plural societies. These are captured in the following two quotes:

The whole continent of North America appears to be destined by Divine Providence to be peopled by one nation, speaking one language, professing one general system of religious and political principles, and accustomed to one general tenor of social usages and customs. ( Quincy Adams; 1811 ; quoted in Sidney Lens, The Forging of the American Empire (Lens, 1974, p. 3.)

We can easily conceive of a time when there will be only one culture and one civilization on the entire surface of the entire earth...I don’t believe that this will happen, because there are contradictory tendencies always at work—on the one hand toward homogenization and on the other toward new distinctions. ( Levi-Strauss, 1978 , p. 20)

These views represent a stark contrast between a vision of cultural (and possibly psychological) homogenization, and that of continuing diversification of societies and individuals. So, whose expectation has come to pass? It is clear that cultural homogenization has not taken place, at least to any deep extent. At a superficial level, such as the availability and adoption of mass cultural elements (e.g., films, food, and music) there is evidence of widespread acceptance. However, at a deeper level (such as basic values, identities, and religious beliefs and practices), it is difficult to accept that much homogenization has taken place ( Berry, 2008 ); diversity seems to have remained very much intact in most societies. For example, after 500 years of colonization and domination, most indigenous peoples in the Western hemisphere continue to value and to practice their heritage cultures.

Many researchers have come to the same conclusion. For example Legrain (2002) has argued that “globalisation is shorthand for how our lives are becoming increasingly intertwined with those of distant people and places around the world—economically, politically and culturally...[However] globalisation is a process, not a destination” (pp. 4 and 9). That is, there is no one end point (such as cultural homogeneity) to these increasing interconnections, and, as Knight (2000 , p. 242) has pointed out, “the technologies that make global culture possible also facilitate the dissemination and hence revival of distinctive local cultures.” This return to one’s roots has been termed localization (in contrast to globalization ). Second, the process of globalization may lead to the fragmentation of extant societies into more culturally specific nation states, rather than into larger more uniform cultural entities (e.g., the breakup of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia into smaller, more culturally defined, nation states). Finally, there is now substantial psychological evidence (e.g., Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999 ; Schmitt & Branscombe, 2002 ) that one of the consequences of intercultural contact, particularly when it is negative or discriminatory, is to react against it, to reject cultural domination, and to increase one’s identification with one’s own cultural community.

If intercultural contact does not lead inevitably to a linear change from one’s heritage culture to a more dominant one, then multidimensional conceptions are required. One way to examine these various possible outcomes of intercultural contact in plural societies is to consider the intercultural strategies framework first developed by Berry over four decades ago ( Berry, 1974 , 1980 & 2003 ). The framework, developed in 1974, had three dimensions. The first is the relative preference for maintaining one’s heritage culture and identity. The second is the relative preference for having intercultural contact with, and participating in, the larger society along with other ethnocultural groups. The third is the role played by the larger society (its policies and institutions) in allowing or constraining these first two preferences. In the original (1974) framework these three dimensions produced eight ways of engaging in intercultural relations.

These issues can be responded to as attitudinal dimensions, ranging from generally positive or negative orientations to these issues; their intersection defines eight strategies, portrayed in Figure 5.2 . On the left are the four orientations from the point of view of nondominant peoples (both individuals and groups); on the right are the four views held by the dominant larger society.

Among nondominant cultural groups, when they do not wish (or are not allowed) to maintain their cultural identity and do seek daily interaction with other cultures, the assimilation strategy is defined. In contrast, when individuals place a value on holding on to their original culture, and at the same time wish to avoid interaction with others, then the separation alternative is defined. When there is an interest in both maintaining one’s original culture, while in daily interactions with other groups, integration is the option. This strategy is called integration because there is some degree of cultural integrity maintained, while preferring (as a member of an ethnocultural group) to participate as an integral part of the larger social network. Finally, when there is little possibility or interest in cultural maintenance (often for reasons of exclusion or discrimination by policies or practices in the larger society) then marginalization is defined. As noted earlier, these strategies are not just a matter of choice on the part of the nondominant individuals and groups. They are often constrained by the policies and attitudes in the larger society, including the multicultural ideology in the society ( Berry, Kalin, & Taylor, 1977 ) and the acculturation expectations ( Berry, 2003 ) in the general population (see later discussion on these interactive approaches).

Varieties of intercultural strategies in cultural groups and in the larger society (modified from Berry, 1980 , 2003 ).

These three basic issues are sometimes approached only from the point of view of the nondominant cultural groups. However (as noted earlier), there is a powerful role played by the dominant group in influencing the way in which nondominant cultural groups would engage in intercultural relations ( Berry, 1974 ). The inclusion of the views of the larger society (on the right side of Figure 5.2 ) reveals the complex, and interactive nature of these intercultural preferences. From the point of view of the larger society, assimilation, when sought by the dominant group, is termed the melting pot. When separation is forced by the dominant group it is called segregation. Marginalization, when imposed by the dominant group, is termed exclusion. Finally, when diversity maintenance and equitable participation are widely accepted features of the society as a whole, integration is called multiculturalism. Note that, in this framework, the concepts of integration and multiculturalism are mutually consistent (rather than opposed to each other).

Extensions and empirical examinations of this framework have been carried out by numerous research groups (e.g., Bourhis, Moise, Perreault, & Senecal, 1997 ; Horenczyk & Munayer, 2007 ; Piontkowski, Rohmann, & Florack, 2002 ; Navas, Rojas, Garcia, and Pumares, 2007 ). Bourhis et al (1997) developed an interactive acculturation model (IAM) that made more explicit the complex relationships that exist when the acculturation attitudes and expectations of both the nondominant and dominant groups are examined together. They built on the observations of Berry (1974, 1980 ) that acculturating individuals and groups pursue acculturation in a larger sociopolitical context, in which their own preferences may match (or not) those of public policies and attitudes in the larger society. They also proposed a fifth orientation to acculturation, which they termed “individualism” (an orientation that considers culture to be unimportant, and emphasizes the individuals’ own personal preferences, separate from culture). This is typically found among young people who prefer to avoid connections to any particular cultural community.

In Spain, the IAM was expanded by Navas et al (2007) to a relative acculturation extended model (RAEM). This framework further differentiated acculturation into the ideal and the real (preferences and actual acculturation practices), as well as into the various daily domains in which acculturation takes place (political, economic, work, family, and social relations). In Germany, Rohmann, Florack, and Piontkowski (2006 ) and Piontkowski et al. (2002) developed the concordance model of acculturation (CAM) to compare the acculturation attitudes of nondominant and dominant groups, within which they created four types of concordance/discordance (matching or mismatching) attitudes. They found that the greater the degree of mismatch, the greater will be the degree of threat and the less will be the possibility of the intercultural encounters being viewed as enriching.

In Israel, Horenczyk and Munayer (2007) expanded the Berry framework in another way: they took into account the very complex character of intercultural relations in Israeli society in their study of the acculturation attitudes of Palestinian Arab Christians (whom they term a “double minority”) who must deal with two majorities (Israeli Jews and Muslim Arabs). In addition, they examined their perception of the acculturation expectations held by these two kinds of majority peers. This approach allows for the elaboration of the basic framework to take such special acculturative relations into account.

These further elaborations all accept the basic features of the original acculturation framework. First is the assertion that there are differing ways in which individuals and groups pursue their acculturation. Second is the view that there may be inconsistencies in these psychological features: between attitudes and behavior; between different domains of daily life; and between the nondominant and dominant communities in any acculturation arena.

When these four strategies are assessed in nondominant groups, integration is usually found to be the most preferred by the nondominant groups and individuals. The integration/multiculturalism strategy (as an expectation) is also often preferred by members of the larger society. However, there are usually variations in these intercultural preferences among both nondominant groups and the larger society (see Berry, 2005 , for a review of the evidence). These relative preferences for intercultural strategies are related to a number of psychological and social factors. The most important is the discrimination experienced by an individual; less discrimination is usually reported by nondominant individuals opting for integration and assimilation, whereas more is experienced by those opting for separation or marginalization (see Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder’s, 2006 , study of immigrant youth reviewed later). This is an example of the reciprocity of intercultural attitudes found in research (reviewed by Berry, 2006b ); if persons (such as immigrants) feel rejected by others in the larger society, they reciprocate this rejection by choosing a strategy that avoids contact with others outside their own group. For example, immigrants who report experiencing high levels of discrimination often opt for the separation strategy (see Berry et al, 2006 , discussed later). In the same immigrant youth study, the reasons for migration also played a role; refugees who flee their society tend to adopt a positive orientation to the society of settlement (through assimilation), whereas guest workers, who are often only in a new place temporarily, tend to adopt a separation strategy ( Berry, 2010 ). Similarly, many develop a reactive identity, in which the experience of discrimination leads to a stronger identification with their own cultural community ( Branscombe et al., 1999 ; Kruusvall, Vetik, & Berry, 2009 ).

Multiculturalism as policy

The issue of how to manage intercultural relations in culturally diverse societies has been at the forefront of public and private discussions in plural societies for centuries. In the contemporary world, this question took on some urgency following the massive population upheavals during and following the World War II ( Borrie, 1959 ), and it has continued unabated in the period since as further upheavals appear with great frequency due to natural and man-made disasters and conflicts, as well as to economic development and globalization.

For a long time, in many plural societies, the general and common orientation to this question was to pursue the absorption of indigenous peoples, national minorities, and newcomers (e.g., immigrants and refugees) through a policy of assimilation, with the goal of creating a society with one language, one identity, and one shared set of values. However, in the UNESCO conference in 1956 in Havana, on “The Cultural Integration of Immigrants” ( Borrie, 1959 ), there was a beginning shift away from assimilation to integration (as distinguished earlier in Figure 5.2 ). For example, the presentation to the conference by the Canadian government (1956) argued that their policy toward immigrants should reflect the political and cultural patterns of Canadian society. This pattern includes “...a society built on the ideas of individual worth and cultural differences...The pressure of one dominant group to assimilate, that is to absorb others, is therefore impracticable as a general theory” (quoted in Borrie, 1959 , p. 51). Although many other societies continued with the general goal of assimilation (e.g., France, Israel, United States), others (including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) began to consider alternatives, most notably that of multiculturalism as a vehicle to achieve integration (and as a way to avoid the alternatives of assimilation/melting pot, separation/segregation, and marginalization/exclusion).

Three international overviews of immigration and incorporation have been published recently where comparisons are made regarding levels of integration or multiculturalism in various countries (see Bloemraad, 2011 ; Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX), 2012 ; and Vigdor, 2011 ). These surveys reveal a number of commonalities across societies (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, a number of European countries, and the United States), despite their focus on different aspects of immigration.

The first survey by the Migration Information Source (see Bloemraad, 2011 ) examines the policies of multiculturalism in various countries, and it tracks changes over the years from 1980 to 2010. It uses the Multiculturalism Policy Index, which is a project to evaluate the multicultural policies and practices in many contemporary democracies. This index was developed by Banting and Kymlicka (2006 ; see Multiculturalism Policy Index, http://www.queensu.ca/mcp/ ). It includes a set of criteria to assess the degree of promotion of multiculturalism (by policy and practice) in a plural society. They proposed nine criteria with which to place societies on a dimension of acceptance of multiculturalism. Among these is the existence of: a government policy promoting multiculturalism, a multicultural ministry or secretariat, adoption of multiculturalism in the school curriculum, ethnic representation in the media, exemptions of cultural groups from codes that are rooted in the dominant society (e.g., Sunday closing), allowance of dual citizenship, funding of cultural organizations, and funding of bilingual or heritage language instruction. The rankings put Australia and Canada in first place, followed by Sweden, New Zealand, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. Toward the middle are Spain, Portugal and the United States. Lowest placed are France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Denmark. Of particular interest is the Netherlands, which was rather high in 2000, but dropped to a low score in 2010. The Dutch case may be a reflection of changes in their approach to multiculturalism, beginning from their traditional openness and liberal democratic values, through “pillarization,” in which groups were allowed to exist with little interaction with others, to frustration over parallel lives created with no demands on any form of integration ( Fleras, 2009 ).

The second survey is the “Migrant Integration Policy Index” (see MIPEX, 2012 ). This survey includes indicators of migrant integration in a number of domains: labor mobility, family reunion, education, political participation, long-term residence, access to nationality and anti-discrimination laws; it also presents an overall score. The overall rankings place Sweden in first place, followed by Portugal, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Spain,the United States, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and France.

The third survey by the Manhattan Institute (see Vigdor, 2011 ) is concerned with immigrant assimilation in North America and Europe. The use of the term assimilation in the title is rather misleading, since it does not assess the giving up (or loss) of heritage culture, which is part of our conception of assimilation; it assesses only involvement in civic, cultural, and economic domains of the larger society (and also provides a composite index). The comparison of immigration countries on overall immigrant incorporation provides the following ranking: Canada, Portugal, United States, Greece, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy. With respect to naturalization rates, the ranking is Canada, Portugal, Netherlands, United States, Greece, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. When these indicators of incorporation are examined by immigrant origin, the rankings remain much the same: for Muslim immigrants, the ranking is: Canada, the United States, Portugal, Spain; for Chinese immigrants, the ranking is Canada, United States, Portugal, Austria, Spain...; and for Southeast Asian immigrants, the ranking is Canada, United States, Austria, Spain, Greece.

Not all countries are represented in all three surveys. However, we may conclude that there are rather consistent variations across these countries in the extent to which they incorporate immigrants from various origins. At the top are Canada, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand and Portugal; toward the middle are Finland, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States; toward the bottom are France, Germany, and Italy

Framework for understanding multiculturalism

A framework to understand the goals, components and relationships of multiculturalism policies is presented in Figure 5.3 .

The fundamental goal of most multiculturalism policies is to enhance mutual acceptance among all ethnocultural groups (upper right) in order to achieve more harmonious (and less conflicted) intercultural relations. This goal can be approached through three program components: On the upper left is the cultural component, which is to be achieved by providing support and encouragement for cultural maintenance and development among all ethnocultural groups. The second component is the social/ intercultural component (lower left), which seeks the sharing of cultural expressions, by providing opportunities for intergroup contact, and the removal barriers to full and equitable participation in the daily life of the larger society. Antidiscrimination laws, policies advocating employment and educational equity, and standards for showing intercultural activities in the media, are all examples of the promotion of this intercultural component. The third feature is the intercultural communication component (which also promotes interculturalism), in the lower right corner of Figure 5.3 . This represents the linguistic reality of most plural societies, and promotes the learning of one or more official languages as a means for all ethnocultural groups to engage in intercultural interactions with each other, and to participate in the national life of the larger society.

It is essential to note that this basic concept of multiculturalism, and of multiculturalism policies, requires that both the cultural and intercultural aspects are legislated and acted upon. The maintenance of heritage cultures and identities (the cultural component) and the full and equitable participation of all ethnocultural groups in the life of the larger society (the intercultural component) are both necessary. Together, and in balance with each other, it should be possible to achieve the multicultural vision. That is, multiculturalism involves not only promoting the maintenance and development of cultural communities within a plural society, but also the promotion of intercultural contact (sometimes referred to as interculturalism). However, in some societies (particularly in Europe and the United States; see later) there is a common misunderstanding that multiculturalism means only the presence of many independent cultural communities in a society (only cultural maintenance), without their equitable participation and incorporation into a larger society. This latter view seems to have been the basis of recent assertions in some European societies (e.g., in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) that “multiculturalism has failed.” For example, the British Prime Minister David Cameron, in response to the riots occurring in London between August 6–10, 2011 (see Wikipedia, 2011) reiterated his position in a speech he gave during the Munich Security Conference that stated that multiculturalism in “Britain had encouraged different cultures to live separate lives”...and that, “the United Kingdom needed a stronger national identity to prevent people turning to all kinds of extremism” ( BBC News, 2011 ; Number 10, 2011 ).

Goals, components, and relationships in multiculturalism policies (modified from Berry, 1984 ).

From the perspective outlined earlier, multiculturalism has not failed because it was not really attempted in these societies. If multiculturalism is viewed and accepted only as the tolerated presence of different cultures in a society, without the simultaneous promotion of inclusion through programs to reduce barriers to equitable participation, then a form of segregation is the correct name for such policies and practices. This view seems to have been recognized by Cameron. However, the solution proposed by Cameron ( Number 10, 2011 ) to the problem of segregation is more homogeneity (“stronger national identity”) rather than the pursuit of the double-engagement option articulated in the vision of multiculturalism. The extreme form of the view proposed by Cameron may be the one by the Norwegian nationalist, Anders Breivik in his manifesto to rid Western Europe of multiculturalism (see Breivik, 2011 ), and followed up on his manifest by killing over 70 people in July 2011.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance ( ECRI, 2011 ) recently concluded that their “...investigations in all European countries are showing a worrying pattern of rising racism. Governments need to be aware of the threat, work to strengthen laws and institutions against discrimination and give a clear message that xenophobia can never be tolerated in modern society.” The report warns that attacks on multiculturalism (as articulated by national political leaders) could lead to fragmented societies and calls on Governments to up their efforts to promote intercultural dialogue: “The answer to the current debate on multiculturalism is strict adherence to a common set of principles, including non-discrimination and tolerance” ( ECRI, 2011 ).

In addition to the four aforementioned components (positive mutual attitudes, cultural maintenance, intercultural contact, and language learning) there are links among them. The first, is termed the multiculturalism hypothesis , and is expressed in the Canadian policy statement as the belief that confidence in one’s cultural identity will lead to sharing, respect for others, and to the reduction of discriminatory attitudes. Berry et al. (1977) identified this belief as an assumption with psychological roots, and as being amenable to empirical evaluation.

A second link in Figure 5. 3 is the hypothesis that when individuals and groups are “doubly engaged” (in both their heritage cultures and in the larger society) they will be more successful in their lives. This success is essentially a higher level of well-being, in both psychological and social domains. This proposal is the integration hypothesis , in which involvement with, competence in, and confidence in both cultural communities provides the social capital that is essential for success in intercultural living. The integration hypothesis has been largely supported by a recent meta-analysis ( Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2013 ; see details later).

A third link portrayed in Figure 5. 3 is the contact hypothesis , by which contact and sharing is considered to promote mutual acceptance under certain conditions, especially that of equality ( Pettigrew & Tropp, 2011 ). Some empirical evidence related to each of these three hypotheses will be presented in a later section.

In the rest of this section, we will present some of the central tenets in multiculturalism as policy in some specific countries (Canada, Australia, the United States and France) and in the European Union. These represent the range of countries that are grappling with multicultural issues, from the most explicitly multicultural (Canada) to the least multicultural (France). The policy of the European Union is also presented because it represents a communal policy that is explicitly multicultural, but is largely at odds with the views and practices of many member states.

Canada has high scores on the three international surveys reviewed earlier. As early as 1971, the Canadian government announced a “Policy of Multiculturalism within a Bilingual Framework.” In a comprehensive overview of the evolution of human rights in Canada, Yalden, (2009 , p. 33) noted that this was the very first use of this term in a public document. Since then, other countries (e.g., Australia and the European Union) have developed multiculturalism and integration policies to deal with their own specific features of cultural pluralism.

The multicultural vision was enunciated in Canada in 1971 , with an announcement by the Federal government of a “Policy of Multiculturalism.” This is a key section of the policy, with implications for intercultural relations:

A policy of multiculturalism within a bilingual framework.... (is) the most suitable means of assuring the cultural freedom of all Canadians. Such a policy should help to break down discriminatory attitudes and cultural jealousies. National unity, if it is to mean anything in the deeply personal sense, must be founded on confidence on one’s own individual identity; out of this can grow respect for that of others, and a willingness to share ideas, attitudes and assumptions.... The Government will support and encourage the various cultural and ethnic groups that give structure and vitality to our society. They will be encouraged to share their cultural expression and values with other Canadians and so contribute to a richer life for all. (Government of Canada, 1971 , pp. 8545–8546)

Note that the concern with a “willingness to share ideas, attitudes and assumptions” is the interculturalism part of the policy.

From this statement, we discerned a number of ideas that were ripe for social psychological examination (from Berry, 1984 ). As with most multiculturalism policies, the clear and fundamental goal of the policy is to enhance mutual acceptance among all cultural groups ( Berry, 1997a ). This goal has been approached through two main program components: a cultural component, by providing support and encouragement for cultural maintenance and development among all cultural groups (including dominant and nondominant ethnocultural groups); and a social/intercultural component that seeks the sharing of cultural expressions by providing opportunities for intergroup contact and the removal of barriers to full and equitable participation in the daily life of the larger society. Together, and in balance with each other, it should be possible to achieve the multicultural vision. There is a clear similarity between the two components of the Canadian multiculturalism policy and the two dimensions underlying the intercultural strategies framework (Figure 5.2 ): both cultural maintenance and equitable participation are required for multiculturalism (and integration) to be achieved.

These initiatives were consolidated in 1988 with the passing of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act. Among its provisions are to:

(a) recognize and promote the understanding that multiculturalism reflects the cultural and racial diversity of Canadian society and acknowledges the freedom of all members of Canadian society to preserve, enhance and share their cultural heritage; (b) recognize and promote the understanding that multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage and identity and that it provides an invaluable resource in the shaping of Canada’s future; (c) promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society and assist them in the elimination of any barrier to that participation; and (d) recognize the existence of communities whose members share a common origin and their historic contribution to Canadian society, and enhance their development. (p. 2)

An overview of the 1971 policy and the1988 Act, and of research on their implementation and consequences can be found in Berry and Laponce (1994) .

Australia also has high scores on the three international surveys reviewed earlier. However, until the 1960s, Australian public policy was essentially assimilationist. This earlier policy was “...that migrants should shed their cultures and languages and rapidly become indistinguishable from the host population” ( Commonwealth of Australia, 2003 ). In 1973, the Commonwealth government issued a policy statement called “A Multi-Cultural Society for the Future” in which it recommended a public policy of multiculturalism, and in 1977, it issued a report called “Australia as a Multicultural Society.”

These statements offer a multicultural vision that is reflected in four principles:

Responsibilities of all—all Australians have a civic duty to support those basic structures and principles of Australian society which guarantee us our freedom and equality and enable diversity in our society to flourish;

Respect for each person—subject to the law, all Australians have the right to express their own culture and beliefs and have a reciprocal obligation to respect the right of others to do the same.

Fairness for each person—all Australians are entitled to equality of treatment and opportunity. Social equity allows us all to contribute to the social, political and economic life of Australia.

Benefits for all—all Australians benefit from the significant cultural, social and economic dividends arising from the diversity of our population. Diversity works for all Australians. (p. 8)

These statements emphasize and affirm the same core components that are the basis of the Canadian policy. The cultural component is articulated by: “Australian multiculturalism recognises, accepts, respects and celebrates cultural diversity. It embraces the heritage of Indigenous Australians, early European settlement, our Australian-grown customs and those of the diverse range of migrants now coming to this country.” The social component is articulated by: “the Government is committed to ensuring that all Australians have the opportunity to be active and equal participants in Australian society, free to live their lives and maintain their cultural traditions.”

United States of America

In the United States, there is no apparent official policy on these issues. Scores for the United States on the three international surveys were medium to low, possibly reflecting this lack of a policy to promote multiculturalism. This reflects the public debate, which has generally come down more on the side of advocating cultural uniformity (starting with Adams, as noted in the earlier quotation ). This early orientation was further supported by John Jay ( First American Supreme Court chief justice) who judged that “Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people—a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs....” However, later, William James (1909) promoted a plural vision for the United States, in which he considered pluralism as “crucial to the formation of philosophical and social humanism to help build a better, more egalitarian society.”

The debate has moved back and forth in recent years. The swing toward the acceptance of multiculturalism was examined by Glazer (1997) , who provocatively announced that “we are all multiculturalists now.” He reviewed the major changes in the United States toward the promotion and acceptance of cultural diversity in society and its institutions, especially in public education. The main contemporary proponent of the earlier view of homogeneity is Huntington (2004) , who has predicted that the United States will wane if its founding Anglo-Protestant character is diminished any further. He argues that current immigration, from Latin America and elsewhere, brings other cultural values and languages that undermine this core United States culture. His solution is clearly on the side of the pursuit of a return to the unitary view of society, where cultural diversity is to be restricted in the search for a common identity. In the United States, even in the absence of a formal multiculturalism policy, cultural diversity is recognized and tolerated to some extent (even promoted in public institutions such as schools and universities); however, substantial variation remains in the status (education, health, employment, overall wealth) of the main social and cultural communities.

Unlike Australia and Canada, France has rather low scores on the three surveys, and it has exhibited (both historically, and at the present time) an orientation toward ethnic and cultural diversity that limits the public expression of other cultural traditions. Such an orientation has been referred to as the “Republican model” (see Sabatier & Boutry, 2006 for an overview of this policy orientation). This goal of cultural homogeneity (which is the opposite of the cultural component of multiculturalism, as defined in Figure 5.2 ) is accompanied by support for participation and equality (which is the social/intercultural component of multiculturalism policy). This combination is essentially one that seeks a melting pot, in which cultural communities and their individual members are expected to become French like all others in France. However, substantial discrimination has largely limited the attainment of this goal (see Berry & Sabatier, 2010 ), leading less to assimilation and more to marginalization, especially among youth of North African origin.

In the European Union (2005) , a set of Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration Policy in the EU was adopted in 2005. This is the first of these principles:

Integration is a dynamic, two-way process of mutual accommodation by all immigrants and residents of Member States. Integration is a dynamic, long-term, and continuous two-way process of mutual accommodation, not a static outcome. It demands the participation not only of immigrants and their descendants but of every resident. The integration process involves adaptation by immigrants, both men and women, who all have rights and responsibilities in relation to their new country of residence. It also involves the receiving society, which should create the opportunities for the immigrants’ full economic, social, cultural, and political participation. Accordingly, Member States are encouraged to consider and involve both immigrants and national citizens in integration policy, and to communicate clearly their mutual rights and responsibilities. (p. 1).

In these EU principles, the three cornerstones of multiculturalism are evident: the right of all peoples to maintain their cultures; the right to participate fully in the life of the larger society; and the obligation for all groups (both the dominant and nondominant) to engage in a process of mutual change. However, as noted for France, and in recent pronouncements in the United Kingdom, such multicultural principles are far from evident in practice.

Psychology of multiculturalism

In this section, we present a selective review of empirical psychological studies of multiculturalism. The first is a portrayal of attitudes and ideologies pertaining to the main components of multiculturalism policies (as illustrated in the boxes of Figure 5.3 ): the pursuit of intercultural acceptance through the promotion of diversity and of intercultural engagement.

Then we examine evidence for the validity of the three main links in Figure 5.3 : the multiculturalism hypothesis ; the integration hypothesis ; and the contact hypothesis .

Multicultural attitudes

Research on the public acceptance of multiculturalism as a concept and policy began with the research by Berry et al. (1977) in Canada, and has continued in a number of countries (e.g., in the Netherlands by Breugelmans & van de Vijver, 2004 , and van de Vijver, Breugelmans & Schalk-Soekar, 2008 ; in New Zealand by Ward & Masgoret, 2009 ; and in Australia by Dandy & Pe-Pua, 2010 ). The attitudes examined include multicultural ideology, the perceived consequences of multiculturalism, and attitudes toward multicultural programs (all developed by Berry et al., 1977 ).

The initial studies in Canada revealed a generally positive view of multiculturalism. The most basic concept is that of multicultural ideology; this refers to the general acceptance of a multicultural way of living together in a plural society ( Berry, et al., 1977 , pp. 131-134). There are three elements to this ideology. The first two elements have been already discussed with respect to the strategies framework (cultural maintenance and equitable participation by all ethnocultural groups); there is a third feature to multicultural ideology—the acceptance by the dominant group that they also need to change in order to achieve some mutual accommodation.

In these studies, these three components combined to become a broad ideological orientation toward how respondents believe individuals and groups should accommodate each other in the larger society. Items were developed that assessed these views, phrased both positively and negatively. Positive items included: “Canada would be a better place if members of ethnic groups would keep their own way of life alive” (cultural maintenance); “There is a lot that Canadians can gain from friendly relations with immigrants” (intercultural contact); and “We should all do more to learn about the customs and heritage of different ethnic and cultural groups in this country” (expressing intercultural engagement, for both dominant and nondominant groups). Negative items included “If members of ethnic groups want to keep their own culture, they should keep it to themselves, and not bother the rest of us” (expressing segregation, and negative with respect to contact). Items also expressed the basic ideas that cultural diversity is a public resource and is something to be valued by a society.

Results generally supported its construct validity (e.g., Berry et al., 1977 ; Berry & Kalin, 1995 ); and it forms part of a complex set of relationships with other conceptually similar scales (negatively with ethnocentrism, and positively with ethnic tolerance and attitudes toward immigration). However, conceptually it is explicitly related more to the idea that diversity is a resource for a society, and that all groups, including the dominant ones, need to share and adapt to each other in order for there to be harmonious intercultural relations among culturally diverse groups in the larger society.

Results also showed that a large majority of Canadians endorsed multicultural ideology as the way for groups to relate to each other. In the first national survey, 63.9% of respondents were on the positive side of the scale, and this rose to 69.3 % in the second survey. Overall, we can say that Canadians support this way of living together by a large and growing margin; we can also say that there is a rather happy coinciding of public opinion with public policy ( Adams, 2007 ). Multicultural ideology has also been assessed in New Zealand by Ward and Masgoret (2009) and in Australia by Dandy and Pe-Pua (2010) . In both countries, they found a generally positive orientation to multicultural ideology.

With respect to the perceived consequences of multiculturalism ( Berry et al, 1977 ), the scale included items such as: “If Canada pursues a policy of multiculturalism, Canada will be richer in culture.” The overall level of agreement was 61.0% in the 1977 survey; this increased to 78.8% in the 1995 survey. For attitudes toward multicultural programs (e.g., support for funding “Community centres where people from various cultural backgrounds can meet each other and share their heritage,” there was 68% overall agreement in 1977, increasing to 93.8 % in 1995. This shows an increasing level of support for the intercultural aspects of the policy.

Overall, there is a clearly positive view about pursuing multiculturalism; there is a high level of support for the policy, and this rose between the two surveys. However, these attitudes vary according to the ethnic origin of respondents, with those of British origin being more positive that those of French origin; those of other origins are the most positive. Jedwab (2002) has reviewed surveys of public attitudes toward multiculturalism in Canada over a 30-year period (1971 to 2001). He notes that responses to items such as “the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians is an objective that the government should support” is agreed to by 82% of respondents, and that it “enhances the value of Canadian citizenship” has the support of 80%. It is evident that there continues to be widespread support for the multicultural way of arranging the various cultural lives in Canada ( Adams, 2007 ).

In New Zealand, Ward and Masgoret (2009) surveyed over 2,000 adults, mostly of European background (70%) and New Zealand born (76%). The issues addressed included attitudes toward multiculturalism, immigrants, acculturation expectations, contact, and perceived threat. In general, there was widespread support for multiculturalism. Indicators of support were over 80% for most items in the survey. In a comparative perspective (based on data from Eurobarometer, 2000 ), the New Zealand sample had the highest level of support (89%), more than in Australia (85%) and in European countries (Sweden at 77% through to Greece at 26%)

In Australia ( Dandy & Pe-Pua, 2010 ; Liu, 2007 ), research has shown an overall positive orientation to multiculturalism, with mean scores on a variety of measures (e.g., perceived consequence of immigration) being well above the scale midpoints. Dandy and Pe-Pua (2010) sampled 248 overseas-born and 483 Australian-born respondents. They found a generally positive attitude toward multiculturalism, but they found no significant differences between those born outside Australia than those born in Australia.

An examination of multicultural attitudes has been carried out in the Netherlands by Van de Vijver et al. (2008) .They defined the concept as “the acceptance of and support for the plural nature of a society among mainstreamers and immigrant groups.” Using a scale to assess multicultural attitudes (based on the earlier multicultural ideology scale), they found that multiculturalism is “a multifaceted, unifactorial attitude with a good cross-cultural equivalence” (p. 93). As in much social attitude research, an individual’s level of education was positively related to support for multiculturalism. They also provided evidence of stability over time in these attitudes in the Netherlands; this is in contrast to a gradual increase in support found in Canada ( Adams, 2007 ; Kymlicka, 2007 ) over the years since its inception.

As noted earlier ( van de Vijver et al., 2008 ), one feature of research findings in the Netherlands is that there is a difference between the public and private domains of life in which an individual or cultural community can express its cultural maintenance. In much of this research, it was found that it is acceptable to express one’s heritage culture in the family and in the community, but that it should not be expressed in public domains, such as in educational or work institutions. This view is opposed to the basic principles outlined by the European Union, where the process is identified as one of mutual accommodation. If such a distinction between the acceptance of heritage cultural maintenance in family and community, versus its rejection in public life and institutions becomes even more widespread, it is likely that there will be more segregation and less integration, possibly leading to more claims that “multiculturalism has failed.” However, as argued earlier, this limited acceptance of diversity is not multiculturalism at all.

An international comparison of attitudes toward multiculturalism ( Leong & Ward, 2006 ) used information from the Eurobarometer (2000) survey of 15 countries. Scales assessed seven attitudes, including blaming minorities, multicultural optimism, and cultural assimilation. They used an average of these scale scores, and related them to a number of other variables (including socioeconomic indicators, and the values of Hofstede (2001) and Schwartz’(2006) ; see chapter 4 ). Higher socioeconomic levels were associated with greater support for multiculturalism, and some values (e.g., Schwartz’s humanitarianism/egalitarianism) were also positively related. In contrast, other values (e.g., Schwartz’s conservatism, and Hofstede’s collectivism) were negatively related to the acceptance of multiculturalism. These findings are in keeping with the relationship commonly found between status (education, SES) and more open and liberal attitudes.

Multiculturalism hypothesis

Following from the Canadian policy, Berry et al. (1977 , p. 192) proposed the multiculturalism hypothesis. This is expressed in the policy statement that confidence in one’s identity will lead to sharing, respect for others, and to the reduction of discriminatory attitudes. This form of confidence is the one identified as achieved identity by Phinney (see Phinney, 1990 ), and as secure attachment by van Oudenhoven ( Bakker, van van Oudenhoven, & van der Zee, 2004 ; van Oudenhoven, 2006 ). This hypothesis is illustrated by the link along the top of Figure 5.3 between heritage cultural maintenance and the attainment of positive mutual attitudes. In addition to the initial proposal in the 1971 policy statement regarding a sense of confidence allowing individuals to accept those who are culturally different, the Canadian policy ( Heritage Canada, 1999 ) further asserts that “Multiculturalism ensures that all citizens can keep their identities, can take pride in their ancestry and have a sense of belonging. Acceptance gives Canadians a feeling of security and self-confidence making them open to and accepting of diverse cultures.”

Three varieties of the multiculturalism hypothesis have been distinguished by Moghaddam (2008b) . The first, as just discussed, refers to the relationship between in-group confidence/security, and the acceptance of other groups. The second concerns the relationship between in-group affiliation and out-group rejection. Here, the hypothesis is that there is no necessary relationship between the strength of in-group associations and rejection of out-groups. As Brewer (1999) noted, “in-group love is not a precursor of out-group hate.” The third variety of the multiculturalism hypothesis concerns differential endorsement of multiculturalism by dominant and nondominant cultural groups. For example, “when minority groups endorse assimilation rather than multiculturalism, they are supporting their own ‘melting away’.” “When majority groups endorse assimilation, they are more likely endorsing their own survival” ( Moghaddam, 2008b , p. 153). Hence, the multiculturalism hypothesis needs to distinguish between the views of dominant and nondominant groups.

The multiculturalism hypothesis has been examined empirically in a number of studies in different countries ( Berry et al., 1977 ; Berry, 2006b : Phinney, Jacoby & Silva, 2007 ; Verkuyten, 2005 ). In Canada, Berry et al. (1977) considered that this confidence involves a sense of security; conversely it is manifested as a sense of threat to one’s cultural group. The multiculturalism hypothesis, as indicated earlier, is that a sense of security in one’s identity is a psychological precondition for the acceptance of those who are culturally different. Conversely, when one’s identity is threatened, people will reject others, whether they are members of other cultural groups or immigrants to the society (see Schwartz, Vignoles, Brown, & Zagefka , this volume).

In two national surveys in Canada ( Berry et al. 1977 ; Berry & Kalin, 2000 ; reviewed by Berry, 2006b ), the concept of security was developed to capture the notion of confidence contained in the Canadian multiculturalism policy. Measures of cultural security and economic security were created with respect to extant diversity, and the continuing flow of immigration. In more recent studies ( Berry, 2006b ) in Canada, we used three measures of security (cultural, economic, and personal): “ I am concerned about losing my cultural identity”; “This country is prosperous and wealthy enough for everyone to feel secure”; “A person’s chances of living a safe, untroubled life are better today than ever before.” These three aspects of security are positively related to each other, and to the acceptance of multiculturalism, of immigrants, and of a number of specific ethnocultural and immigrant groups. We thus conclude that the multiculturalism hypothesis has received support from research in Canada.

In Australia, Dandy and Pe-Pua (2010) found support for the hypothesis. In the total sample, correlations between security and multicultural ideology was +0.30, and + 0.41 with the perceived consequences of multiculturalism. Research in New Zealand by Ward and Masgoret (2008) employed a large national sample to examine relationships among intercultural contacts, perceived threat (symbolic and realistic), multicultural ideology, and attitudes toward immigrants. Using structural equation modeling, the authors revealed significant relationships among these variables: “...a strong Multicultural Ideology, high levels of Contact, and low levels of Intergroup Threat relate directly to positive Attitudes toward Immigrants, and these attitudes in turn strongly relate to the endorsement of immigration policies concerning migrant numbers and source” (p. 234).

In the United States, Phinney et al., (2007) carried out two studies to examine the relationship between ethnic identities and attitudes toward cultural groups in a large sample of university students from different ethnocultural groups. The first study showed that Asian and Latino Americans who had an achieved (i.e., a secure) identity reported significantly more positive intergroup attitudes than those with a diffuse (i.e., unsecured) cultural identity. In their second study, using qualitative methods with adolescents from five ethnic groups, they assessed ethnic identity and attitudes. Again, results “showed that ethnic identity achieved adolescents, compared to diffuse adolescents, gave responses indicating greater awareness and understanding of intergroup relations. Overall, the results provide evidence that a secure ethnic identity is associated with positive intergroup attitudes and mature intercultural thinking” (p. 478).

Parallel research on the relationship between security (i.e., the lack of realistic and symbolic threats) and out-group acceptance has been carried out using the integrated threat hypothesis (see e.g., Riek, Mania, & Gaertner, 2006 ; Stephan, Renfro, Esses, Stephan, & Martin, 2005 ). This hypothesis argues that a sense of threat to a person’s identity (the converse of a secure cultural identity) will lead to rejection of the group that is the source of threat, and, in some cases, to an enhanced ethnic identity (called reactive identity). Much of this research on threat has been examined in a meta-analysis by Riek et al., (2006) . Different types of threat have been studied, including realistic threat (e.g., due to real group conflict over resources), symbolic threat (e.g., conflicting values and beliefs), and intergroup anxiety (e.g., uncertainty about how to relate to the out-group). Using a sample of 95 published studies, they found significant correlations (ranging from 0.42 to 0.46 for the various forms of threat) between threat and out-group attitudes. They also found that the status of the group moderated these relationships: for out-groups with low status (e.g., ethnic minorities) anxiety had a stronger relationship with negative out-group attitudes than when out-groups were of relatively high status. In general, they concluded that: “the results of the meta-analysis indicate that intergroup threat has an important relationship with out-group attitudes. As people perceive more intergroup competition, more value violations, higher levels of intergroup anxiety, more group esteem threats, and endorse more negative stereotypes, negative attitudes toward out-groups increase” (p. 345).

Research by Verkuyten (2005) in the Netherlands was also intended to examine the multiculturalism hypothesis, using samples of Turkish-Dutch and Dutch university students. However, in seeking to evaluate the multiculturalism hypothesis, Verkuyten did not assess identity security. Instead he assessed the strength of in-group identity and own-group evaluation. These were assessed by scales seeking how much an individual identified with their in-group, and how positively they evaluated it. This confusion between security of identity and strength of identity, and positive in-group evaluation, was addressed by Berry (1984) who argued that they are not at all the same concepts. In ethnocentrism theory, a strong ethnic identity and positive evaluation of the in-group are known to be related to out-group rejection, whereas the multiculturalism hypothesis proposes that a high level of identity security is related to out-group acceptance. As argued by Berry (1984 , pp. 363–364): “...we need to distinguish between two forms of ‘confidence’. If we mean simply ‘own group glorification’, or ‘strongly positive ingroup attitudes’, then ethnocentrism theory...predicts an opposite relationship.” Indeed, in the national survey conducted by Berry et al., (1977) “the more positively one rated one’s own group, the more negatively they rated all other groups...However, multiculturalism policy and programs do not intend to develop confidence by enhancing own-group glorification. If we render the notion of confidence as a ‘sense of security’...then there is evidence of a positive relation with ethnic tolerance”.

We conclude that since first being introduced, the multiculturalism hypothesis has largely been supported. Various feelings of security and threat appear to be part of the psychological underpinnings of the acceptance of multiculturalism. Whether phrased in positive terms (security is a prerequisite for tolerance of others and the acceptance of diversity), or in negative terms (threats to, or anxiety about, one’s cultural identity and cultural rights underpins prejudice), there is little doubt that there are intimate links between being accepted by others and accepting others. However, when the hypothesis is examined using other feelings (such as positive in-group evaluation or strength of ethnic identity) rather than identity security or confidence, the opposite (ethnocentric) relationship is found.

Integration Hypothesis

This hypothesis is that individuals who both maintain their heritage cultures and identities, and who also engage with the larger society (that is, those who pursue the integration strategy) are likely to be more successful than those who pursue only one of these (that is, those who pursue assimilation or separation) or who pursue neither (that is, who are marginal). This hypothesis is illustrated down the left side of Figure 5.3 , where there is a joint pursuit of the cultural and social components of multiculturalism policy. The advantage of being integrated was proposed in a literature review by Berry (1997b , p. 27: “Psychological acculturation is influenced by many individual-level factors. In particular, the integrationist or bi-cultural acculturation strategy appears to be a consistent predictor of more positive outcomes than the three alternatives of assimilation, separation or marginalisation.”

To illustrate the positive link between acculturation strategy and adaptation, in the study of immigrant youth ( Berry et al, 2006 ), we asked the question; “is it the case that how an adolescent acculturates relates to how well they adapt?” The pattern in our findings was very clear: Those in the integration profile had the best psychological and sociocultural adaptation outcomes, whereas those in the a marginalization/diffuse profile had the worst; in between, those with a separation/ethnic profile had moderately good psychological adaptation but poorer sociocultural adaptation, whereas those with an assimilation/national profile had moderately poor psychological adaptation, and slightly negative sociocultural adaptation. This pattern of results was largely replicated using structural equation modeling with the same data set. We also examined relationships between the two forms of adaptation and perceived discrimination: we found that discrimination was negatively and significantly related to both psychological and sociocultural adaptation.

A further illustration of the link between acculturation strategy and adaptation has been shown in the study of Turkish migrants in Germany ( Schmitz & Berry, 2009 ). There are many correlations supporting the expected relationships between the integration strategy and adaptation. Integration was negatively related to anxiety and depression; a new finding was that it is also negatively related to anger. On the positive side, a preference for integration was related to high life satisfaction; a new finding was that it is also positively related to curiosity. This pattern replicates earlier patterns and adds the role of curiosity in promoting integration and of anger in limiting it. The opposite pattern is found for marginalization: these immigrants have high anxiety, depression, and anger; and they have low life satisfaction (but no relationship with curiosity). For those preferring assimilation, the pattern is similar to that for marginalization, except that there was no relationship with life satisfaction (but there was a negative one with curiosity). Finally, the separation preference is similar to that for assimilation (high anxiety and anger), but there was low life satisfaction and no relationship with depression.

Some other studies have examined the relationship using contrasts between societies that have different immigration and settlement policies. In one study, second generation immigrant youth in Canada and France were compared ( Berry & Sabatier, 2010 ). The national public policy and attitude context was found to influence the young immigrants’ acculturation strategies and the relationship with their adaptation. In France, there was more discrimination, less orientation to their heritage culture (identity, behavior), and poorer adaptation (lower self-esteem and higher deviance). Within both samples, integration was found to be associated with better adaptation, and marginalization was found to be associated with poorer adaptation. However the magnitude of this relationship was less pronounced in France than in Canada. This difference was interpreted as a result of it being more psychologically costly to express one’s ethnicity in France than in Canada, and to be related to differences in national policy and practices.

In a study of Russian migrants in Finland and Israel, Jasinskaja-Lahti, Horenczyk, and Kinunen (2011) assessed each of three acculturation attitudes (separation, assimilation, and integration). They were all positively related to immigrant adaptation, either directly or moderated by the length of residence or by the country of residence. In support of the integration hypothesis, a main effect was obtained only for the integration attitude, which positively predicted psychological adaptation.

Overall, we conclude that there is substantial evidence to support the integration hypothesis. This generalization seems to apply to various forms of adaptation, and remains supported when various ways of conceptualizing (biculturalism or integration) are used, and when assessing acculturation by various types of scales.

The integration hypothesis has recently been confirmed by a meta-analysis by Nguyen and Benet-Martínez (2013) . Although the strength of the relationship between acculturation strategy and adaptation to living interculturally varies according to how acculturation strategies are assessed, the overall finding supports the integration hypothesis. More specifically, they examined the relationship across 83 studies and 23,197 participants. They found a significant relationship between biculturalism (integration) and both psychological adaptation (including life satisfaction, positive affect, and self-esteem) and sociocultural adaptation (including academic achievement, career success, social skills, and lack of behavioral problems). Of particular importance for this hypothesis was their finding that the association with biculturalism (cf., integration) was stronger than with either single cultural orientation (to their own group; cf. separation), or to the dominant group (cf., assimilation). They further found that the strength of the biculturalism-adaptation relationship was moderated by the way in which the strategies were assessed.

Contact hypothesis

A third link portrayed in Figure 5.3 is the contact hypothesis , by which contact and sharing is considered to promote mutual acceptance under certain conditions, especially that of equality ( Pettigrew & Tropp, 2011 ). This hypothesis focuses on the intercultural aspects of multiculturalism (participation and language acquisition). The promotion of intercultural engagement and learning is usually achieved by enacting antidiscrimination laws, policies advocating employment and educational equity, and standards for showing intercultural activities in the media.

In the national surveys in Canada ( Berry et al, 1977 ; Berry & Kalin, 1995 ), we found substantial support for this relationship, especially when status is controlled. For example, overall ratings of mutual familiarity (a rating of how much contact and interaction an individual had with members of a specific ethnocultural group) were positively correlated with positive attitudes toward members of that group. In analyses at the level of neighborhoods ( Kalin & Berry, 1982 ), we found that with the proportion of a particular group being greater, the attitudes toward that group by non-members were more positive. There was no evidence of a “tipping point,” where a higher presence of a particular group in one’s neighbourhood became associated with lesser acceptance of that group.

Longitudinal studies are very important to the disentangling of the direction of the relationship between intercultural contact and attitudes. One study ( Binder, et. al., 2009 ) has shown an interactive effect of contact and intercultural attitudes. They conducted a longitudinal field survey in Germany, Belgium, and England with school student samples of members of both ethnic minorities and ethnic majorities. They assessed both intercultural contact and attitudes at two points in time. Contact was assessed by both the quality and quantity of contact. Attitudes were assessed by social distance and negative feelings. The pattern of intercorrelations, at both times, supported the positive relationship between contact and attitudes. Beyond this correlational analysis, path analyses yielded evidence for the relationship working in both directions: contact reduced prejudice, but prejudice also reduced contact. Thus, in this study, support for the contact hypothesis is partial: contact can lead to more positive attitudes, but initial positive attitudes can lead people into contact with each other.

A key element in the contact hypothesis is the set of conditions that may be necessary in order for contact to lead to more positive intercultural relations. The three hypotheses are linked because the first two hypotheses speak to some of these conditions under which contact can have positive outcomes. First, for the multiculturalism hypothesis, we saw that when the cultural identities of individuals and groups are threatened, and their place in the plural society is questioned, more negative attitudes are likely to characterize their relationships. This consequence applies to all ethnocultural groups, both dominant and nondominant. For example, when members of the larger society feel threatened by immigration, and when members of particular groups have their rights to maintain their heritage cultures and/or to participate in the larger society are questioned or denied, a mutual hostility is likely to ensue. Under these conditions, increased contact is not likely to lead to more positive intercultural attitudes.

Pettigrew and Tropp (2011) carried out meta-analyses of numerous studies of the contact hypothesis, which came from many countries and many diverse settings (schools, work, and experiments). Their findings provide general support for the contact hypothesis: intergroup contact does generally relate negatively to prejudice in both dominant and nondominant samples.

The evidence is now widespread across cultures that greater intercultural contact is associated with more positive intercultural attitudes, and lower levels of prejudice. This generalization has to be qualified by two cautions. First, the appropriate conditions need to be present in order for contact to lead to positive intercultural attitudes. Second, there are many examples of the opposite effect, where increased contact is associated with greater conflict. The conditions (cultural, political, and economic) under which these opposite outcomes arise are in urgent need of examination.

Conclusions: Psychological benefits and costs of multiculturalism

What are the possible benefits and costs to a plural society and its members when the multicultural option is pursued? Some of these have been proposed by Berry (1998) , and are summarized here. First, the public declaration that all cultural groups are valued members of and equal participants in a plural society sends a positive message that may provide the foundation for harmonious intercultural relations. As we saw in the discussion of the multiculturalism hypothesis, the sense of security intended by such a declaration is associated with positive multicultural ideology and related attitudes. The opposite message (that different cultural groups are neither a welcome component nor a participating community) is likely to be interpreted as a threat, and it is associated with negative and even hostile intercultural attitudes.

At the societal level, when multiculturalism is declared to be a public resource, rather than a problem for a plural society, more specific benefits follow. In diplomatic and trade relationships, having linguistic competencies nurtured, and transmitting knowledge of the values and practices of other cultures in the plural society, can have clear advantages when working outside the national borders.

In international affairs, obligations with respect to human rights generally, and to cultural rights more specifically, are monitored by various international organizations (e.g., UN Human Rights Council, International Labour Organisation, UNESCO), and countries that meet these various standards are applauded, whereas those that do not, are criticized.

With respect to the social integration of cultural groups and their members, there is evidence of reciprocity in intercultural relations ( Berry, 2006b ; Berry et al, 2006 ). When acculturating groups and individuals are discriminated against in their new society, they tend to reciprocate this negative treatment by seeking the separation or marginalization way of acculturating ( Berry et al., 2006 ). These two strategies have negative consequences for all; there is also usually lower sociocultural adaptation, and lesser economic and educational achievement.

At the individual level, the evidence reviewed in the section on the integration hypothesis supports the positive association between being engaged in two (and sometimes more) cultural communities and psychological well-being. For sociocultural adaptation, having more than one language and culture available for acquisition and mastering during a person’s development provides options for how to live, and enhances access to more cultural resources (literature, film, personal relationships) than in a society with only one language and culture.

An obvious cost at the societal level is that there are usually programs and institutions required to operate such a policy. The mere articulation of multiculturalism costs little; but its operationalization takes financial resources. Whether in multicultural education, health, justice, or broadcasting, public resources need to be allocated.

A second possible cost is a reduction in national unity, and increased divisiveness within the plural society. That is, there is a question of whether multiculturalism challenges the possibility of attaining social cohesion among the various cultural groups ( Koopmans, 2005 ; Jopke, 2007 ; Reitz, Breton, Dion, & Dion, 2009 ). This question has not yet been resolved. However, there is some evidence that identification with one’s heritage cultural group and with the national society need not be negatively correlated, or mutually exclusive. In the study of immigrant youth ( Berry et al., 2006 ) overall there was a small negative correlation between these two identities. However, the correlation was positive in all settler societies (such as Australia, Canada and the United States; but also in the United Kingdom), and negative in societies that are new to the processes involved in immigration and settlement (such as Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden).

Indeed, cultural differences can be exploited to achieve a variety of domestic and international political goals (as in the divide-and-conquer strategy). This is most likely to happen when groups become official categories (as in census groupings) where they can be exploited for votes or other reasons. Moreover, existing inequalities in socioeconomic status can become entwined with ethnic status, resulting in a double jeopardy. Such exploitation is always possible, but the reverse is also possible. The designation of particular ethnic groups as disadvantaged can lead to (and indeed has led to) public programs to reduce inequity through employment and educational initiatives.

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Migrating Minds: Journal of Cultural Cosmopolitanism -- Call for submissions for Vol. 3, Issue 2, Fall 2025

Migrating Minds: Journal of Cultural Cosmopolitanism (ISSN 2993-1053) is a peer-reviewed, open-access scholarly journal devoted to interdisciplinary research on cultural cosmopolitanism from a comparative perspective. It provides a unique, international forum for innovative critical approaches to cosmopolitanism emerging from literatures, cultures, media, and the arts in dialogue with other areas of the humanities and social sciences, across temporal, spatial, and linguistic boundaries.

By placing creative expressions at the center of a wide range of contemporary and historical intercultural relationships, the journal explores forms of belonging and spaces of difference and dissidence that challenge both universalist and exclusionary paradigms.

Migrating Minds: Journal of Cultural Cosmopolitanism is hosted by Georgetown University, Washington D.C., and is co-supported by the “Plurielles” Research Group , Bordeaux Montaigne University, France. Its founders and editors-in-chief are Prof. Didier Coste (Bordeaux Montaigne U.), Dr. Christina Kkona (Bordeaux Montaigne U.), and Prof. Nicoletta Pireddu (Georgetown U.).

 Each journal issue includes 5-7 scholarly articles (6000-8000 words each) and several book reviews (1000 words each) and/or review essays (3000 words each).  

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Guest Essay

A Dangerous Game Is Underway in Asia

By Mike M. Mochizuki and Michael D. Swaine

Dr. Mochizuki is a professor at George Washington University. Dr. Swaine is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

This month, President Biden threw one of the most lavish state dinners in Washington’s recent memory. Celebrities and billionaires flocked to the White House to dine in honor of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, posing for photos in front of an elaborate display of Japanese fans. Jeff Bezos dropped by; Paul Simon provided the entertainment.

The spectacle was part of a carefully orchestrated series of events to showcase the renewed U.S.-Japan relationship — and the notable transformation of the United States’ security alliances in Asia. The next day, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines was also in the U.S. capital for a historic U.S.-Japan-Philippines summit, during which a new trilateral security partnership was announced.

Both events were directed at the same audience: China.

Over the past several years, Washington has built a series of multilateral security arrangements like these in the Asia-Pacific region. Although U.S. officials claim that the recent mobilization of allies and partners is not aimed at China, don’t believe it. Indeed, Mr. Kishida emphasized in a speech to Congress on April 11 that China presents “the greatest strategic challenge” both to Japan and to the international community.

China’s recent activity is, of course, concerning. Its military has acquired ever more potent ways to counter U.S. and allied capabilities in the Western Pacific and has behaved aggressively in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and elsewhere, alarming its neighbors.

But Washington’s pursuit of an increasingly complex lattice of security ties is a dangerous game. Those ties include upgrades in defense capabilities, more joint military exercises, deeper intelligence sharing, new initiatives on defense production and technology cooperation and the enhancement of contingency planning and military coordination. All of that may make Beijing more cautious about the blatant use of military force in the region. But the new alliance structure is not, on its own, a long-term guarantor of regional peace and stability — and could even increase the risk of stumbling into a conflict.

The security partnership rolled out this month in Washington is only the latest in a string of new defense configurations that reach across Asia and the Pacific. In 2017 the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad, was revived, promoting collaboration among the United States, Japan, Australia and India. In September 2021, Australia, Britain and the United States began their partnership, known as AUKUS, and the United States, Japan and South Korea committed to closer cooperation in a summit at Camp David last August.

All of these moves have been motivated primarily by concern over Beijing, which has, in turn, castigated these countries as being part of a U.S.-led effort to create an Asian version of NATO designed to contain China. None amount to a collective defense pact like the NATO treaty, whose Article 5 considers an armed attack on one member as “an attack against them all.” But China will nevertheless almost certainly regard the latest agreement among the United States, Japan and the Philippines — with which it is engaged in an active territorial dispute — as further confirmation of a Washington-led attempt to threaten its interests.

It’s not yet clear how Beijing will respond. But it may double down on the expansion of its military capabilities and intensify its use of military and paramilitary force to assert its territorial claims in the region, especially regarding the sensitive issue of Taiwan. Beijing could also promote further Chinese military cooperation with Russia in the form of enhanced military exercises and deployments.

The net result may be an Asia-Pacific region that is even more divided and dangerous than it is today, marked by a deepening arms race. In this increasingly contentious and militarized environment, the chance of some political incident or military accident triggering a devastating regional war is likely to grow. This is especially likely, given the absence of meaningful U.S. and allied crisis communication channels with China to prevent such an incident from spiraling out of control.

To prevent this nightmare, the U.S. and its allies and partners must invest much more in diplomacy with China, in addition to bolstering military deterrence.

For a start, the United States and key allies like Japan should make a sustained effort to establish a durable crisis prevention and management dialogue with China involving each nation’s foreign policy and security agencies. So far, such dialogues have been limited primarily to military channels and topics. It is critical that both civilian and military officials understand the many possible sources of inadvertent crises and develop ways to prevent them or manage them if they occur. This process should include the establishment of an agreed-upon set of leaders’ best practices for crisis management and a trusted but unofficial channel through which the relevant parties can discuss crisis-averting understandings.

The immediate focus for the United States and Japan should be on avoiding actions that add to tensions across the Taiwan Strait. The deployment of American military trainers to Taiwan on what looks like a permanent basis and suggestions by some U.S. officials and policy analysts that Taiwan be treated as a security linchpin within the overall U.S. defense posture in Asia are needlessly provocative. They also openly contradict America’s longstanding “one China” policy , under which the United States ended the deployment of all U.S. military forces to Taiwan and does not view Taiwan as a key U.S. security location, caring only that the Taiwan issue be handled peacefully and without coercion.

Japan, for its part, has also become more circumspect about its own “one China” policy by being reluctant to reaffirm explicitly that Tokyo does not support Taiwan’s independence. Recent statements by some political leaders in Tokyo about Japanese military forces being ready to help defend Taiwan will almost certainly inflame Chinese leaders, who remember that Japan seized Taiwan after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and ’95.

Washington and Tokyo should clearly reaffirm their previous commitments on the China-Taiwan dispute. Tokyo also should confirm that it does not support any unilateral move by Taiwan toward independence and resist U.S. efforts to compel Japan to commit to Taiwan’s defense. Although American officials have reportedly been prodding Japan to join military planning for a Taiwan conflict, a large majority of Japanese residents do not favor fighting to defend Taiwan. Tokyo can best contribute to deterring China by focusing on strengthening its ability to defend its own islands.

Washington and its allies should shift to a more positive approach to China, aimed at fostering accommodation and restraint. This could include working to secure credible mutual assurances regarding limits on Chinese military deployments, such as amphibious forces and missile capabilities relevant to Taiwan, in return for U.S. limits on the levels and types of arms that it sells to the island. They could also explore increasing security cooperation with China regarding cyberattacks, the defense of sea lanes and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as well as better collaboration to combat climate change and the outbreak of another pandemic.

China, of course, has its own role to play. In the end, Beijing, like the United States, wants to avoid a crisis and conflict in the region. Given that, it should respond to a more cooperative American and allied approach by moderating its own coercive behavior regarding maritime disputes.

None of this will be easy, given the intense suspicion that now exists between Beijing and Washington and its allies. But new thinking and new diplomatic efforts could incentivize China to reciprocate in meaningful ways. At the very least, it’s necessary to try. Focusing on military deterrence alone won’t work. Trying to find a way to cooperate with China is the best way — perhaps the only way — to steer the world away from disaster.

Mike M. Mochizuki is a professor at George Washington University and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Michael D. Swaine is a senior research fellow focusing on China-related security topics at the Quincy Institute.

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• Cyber / Law of War / Uncategorized
• LENS Essay Series: “Uploading Culture: Navigating the International Humanitarian Legal Framework Governing Cultural Property in the Metaverse”

by Charlie Dunlap, J.D. · 2 May 2024

International law has long sought…with only mixed success…to protect cultural objects from the dangers of wars and other armed conflicts.  Today this issue has become even more complex though the emergence of various digitization techniques that may not only be an unprecedented means of preserving cultural heritage, but also might be used to create unique cultural assets.

Are the treaties that aim to protect cultural heritage but which date from before these techniques existed still adequate for the job?

Among other things, Maddie’s essay makes this observation: “A less commonly discussed means of preserving property digitally could be available through the creation of an entirely digital sector in the metaverse, in which a state’s cultural objects are uploaded using 3D scanning or are recreated within a virtual reality setting, integrating with physical and augmented reality. ” 

She later makes the intriguing point that some cultural objects may exist only in digital form and only within a metaverse hub:

How does (or should) the international law of armed conflict deal with all this?  Read Maddie’s “Uploading Culture ” essay! 

Here’s the abstract with some more information:

Shutterstock

As business moguls buy digital art that has been minted as an NFT and Ukrainian citizens use 3D scanning technology to upload their at-risk cultural artifacts into digital archives, digital and digitized cultural property is becoming a new global trend. Protecting cultural property from illegal incursions by belligerents in wartime is also rising to the top of public awareness.

In a world that might eventually integrate virtual reality with physical reality, it is worth exploring the way that the metaverse can be utilized to preserve cultural heritage along with the risks posed by belligerent cyber actors to the resulting cultural property.

Part I of this paper discusses the newest developments in metaverse-building technology, including digital twin technology and NFTs, and their application to cultural property preservation. Part II discusses the existing international humanitarian legal framework that governs cultural property protection through the 1954 Hague Convention and its Second Protocol, the Geneva Convention and its additional protocols, the Rome Statute, and existing caselaw.

Part III applies the international humanitarian legal framework to digital data, both created-digital and born-digital, concluding that if either type of digital property was state-controlled, it could qualify for cultural property protection. Part IV explores proposed standards for governing kinetic and cyber operations impacting the metaverse under international humanitarian law standards. Ultimately, this paper argues that the duty to safeguard cultural property will likely include increased digitization in the future and will require states to create clear governance standards for virtual reality. 

Again, you can read the essay here .

About the Author

Throughout her time at Duke, Madison has been involved with the LENS Center as a Research Assistant; she wrote LENS Essay #21, “ Financial Jihad: Combating the Use of Virtual Assets in Terrorist Financing .” Madison serves as the Co-President for the National Security Law Society and is the Notes Editor for the Duke Law  Journal of Comparative & International Law (“DJCIL”). Her note, “ Reversing CFIUS: Analyzing the International and Constitutional Implications of the Revised National Critical Capabilities Defense Act ,”  was published by DJCIL in the Spring of 2023. She is involved with the Duke Law and Technology Review, the Moot Court Board, and the Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing Program.

Remember what we like to say on  Lawfire ® : gather the facts, examine the law, evaluate the arguments – and then decide for yourself !

Tags: cultural property Madison Cash metaverse

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University of Birmingham

The conference will take place at the University of Birmingham's Edgbaston campus on 7-8 September 2024. It is funded by the BRIDGE Seed Fund for collaboration between the University of Birmingham in the UK, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the USA

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, decolonising and decentring approaches to the study of Russophone literature and culture have become increasingly urgent tasks. This symposium seeks to advance these efforts by examining texts by minoritized Russophone authors, including those who are ‘writing back’ from regions formerly colonized by Russia and those who ended up living in exile abroad.

The symposium will be multi- and interdisciplinary; we encourage contributions from established scholars and early career researchers working in literary studies, linguistics, human geography, political and social sciences.

We welcome submissions focused on Russophone literary diversity and peripheries, with diversity being understood along a number of different axes: geographic, ethnic, racial, linguistic, sexual/gender.

The symposium include several panels, each focusing on one of the following: 

• space, place and periphery
• ethnic/racial/cultural diversity
• linguistic hybridity
• sexual/gender diversity
• stylistic diversity/mode of expression (genre, literary style, etc.)

Best papers will be considered for publication in a collaboratively edited special issue in a research journal.

We have limited funding to support some paper-givers, giving priority to early career researchers and scholars from Eurasian universities.

We invite you to submit an abstract (up to 300 words) on one of the topics given above and a two-page CV by sending both as Word documents to Natasha Rulyova at [email protected] . In your email message subject, please write ‘Russophone Literary Diversity Symposium’ and your name, for example: ‘Russophone Literary Diversity Symposium_Rulyova.’

The submission deadline is 10 June 2024 .

The Symposium committee will comprise: Nataliya Rulyova, Isobel Palmer, and Irina Kuznetsova (UoB); Valeria Sobol, David Cooper and George Gasyna (UIUC).

Featured staff

Dr Natalia (Natasha) Rulyova

Associate Professor in Russian