What is the difference between interculturalism and multiculturalism

In both countries Germany and France, multiculturalism acknowledges diversity and develops a narrative and a policy of integration that considers migrant as co-citizens. On the other hand, a comparative study in Europe shows that integration policies promoting multiculturalism have not improved the economic situation for immigrant populations.

In fact, they have contributed to their cultural and political marginalization Koopmans, Great Britain is the European country where the normative value of the concept of multiculturalism is most elaborated. Arguing against the assimilationist approach because of its defense of a historical national homogeneity, he believes that multiculturalism considers migrants as co-citizens within a pluralism in which all identities are respected.

Moreover, political strategies that move in this direction in order to reshape the understanding of Britishness. Zapata Barrero maintains the normative strength of multiculturalism through his emphasis on equality. Is interculturalism misrepresenting multiculturalism as Modood claims? It is difficult to draw normative boundaries between these two a priori opposing concepts. For Modood , the central normative claim is that citizenship and national identity must be remade to include group identities that are important to minorities as well as majorities.

Zapata-Barrero sees interculturalism as fostering intercultural citizenship, and consequently it is seen as an important driver for a socialization process, of culture-making. Diversity is then an advantage and a resource to promote solidarity and reframe a common public culture. What is the difference between a multicultural nationalism and intercultural citizenship - both aim for a civic public space leading to a new dynamic of national identity - other than a narrative difference?

The problem that emerges in the elaboration of both concepts is the use of categories. How do we imagine a majority without the historical process of a nation building and the pressure for defining a national identity?

Despite the idea of a common past, national identity, similar to all identities, is redefined according to the expectations of the social groups constituting it as its relation to other nations. Would the influence of internal and external dynamics bring the majority — an important part of the historical formation of the state as well — to the same level as minority groups claiming state recognition?

Does equal citizenship, on the basis of rights and duties, erase the historical trademark of the majority? Multiculturalism as history in the making requires new compromises and negotiations among states and groups Kastoryano, The terms of the compromise take into consideration the dynamics in the definition of national identity, but it is difficult to imagine that the majority will be a group as any group looking for equal recognition.

According to Kymlicka , the regression, of multiculturalism is due to perceived threats hanging over border security, human rights and economic prosperity.

The school as a site of intercultural policy was obviously not a coincidence. It was also not a coincidence when the school was involved in the the site of the headscarf affair that shook French society. The separation of church and state confers institutional legal status on the Catholic clergy, the Protestants of the National Federation of Protestant Churches of France, and to the Jews governed by the Consistory created under Napoleon.

With Islam as an emerging religion, the extension of institutional recognition for equal representation has been defined as a pluralist promotion of diversity. Non-denominational state schools should also include compulsory religious education of all faiths as a part of a national curriculum.

While multiculturalism focuses on a national level questioning the national identity, interculturalism emphases the local level because of the geographical and physical proximity among groups that facilitate dialogue and exchanges. Such an assumption suggests a social link between separate communities settled in one locality.

Ethnic grouping in these neighborhoods reflects the failure of integration policies and urban policies, an evolution that nourishes the discourses on the failure of multiculturalism but not guarantee the success of interculturalism. The greatest challenge to the current debate on multiculturalism and interculturalism as a set of policies is the power of transnationalism. Transnationalism, however, has been developed as an experience of migrants and minorities, settled in different national societies interacting with each other beyond borders.

Increasing mobility and the development of telecommunication technologies have intensified such trans-border relations and mobilizations, and have participated in the elaboration of a transnational solidarity and identification. Such an evolution is the result of intense and complex ongoing ties that migrants uphold with their country of origin and the cultural, social, economic, political and ideological transfers that occur between the departure and the receiving country and beyond.

These multiple levels of participation are perceived as a challenge to the founding principles of nation-states with regard to territoriality, citizenship, and membership to a single political community. Transnationalism brings to light multiple membership and multiple loyalties — crystallized around dual citizenship — which becomes for immigrants a way to maintain an identity rooted in the home country.

Citizenship becomes then an entitlement within the country of residence. Turkey and Morocco, where national and religious identities are combined are the most active in such transnational politics.

The main objective is to oppose the strategy of international organizations that promote global Islam by re-territorializing and re-nationalizing their belonging expressed in terms of religion and to control the citizenry and loyalty abroad as a resource for the transnationalization of the state Kastoryano, Home states attempt to influence integration of the state both states and transnational communities into a global space as a way to compete with transnational communities in their engagement of the process of globalization.

States also attempt to control transnational actions, which by definition intend to bypass the state. Receiving countries are driven to collaborate with home countries to insure migrant integration. In this configuration, politics of integration are not a single state policy. Rather it can describe segregation and even alienation. This is how the Spring Institute defines it:. Intercultural communication focuses on the mutual exchange of ideas and cultural norms and the development of deep relationships.

In an intercultural society, no one is left unchanged because everyone learns from one another and grows together. In this case, the focus is on relationship building, deep connections, interactions, mutual respect, and learning from one another. Whereas multicultural refers to a passive situation, intercultural describes an active behavior where each individual learns from another. Now, do you see why these differences matter?

Share This Post. Share on facebook. Share on linkedin. Share on twitter. Share on email. Prev Previous How to run a meeting of people from different cultures. Next Cultural Appreciation or Cultural Appropriation? Read more Posts. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Multiculturalism: success, failure, and the future. Leiken, R. New York: Oxford University Press. Meer, N. How does interculturalism contrast with multiculturalism? Journal of Intercultural Studies , 33 2 , — Modood, T.

The case of Muslims in Western Europe. London: British Academy. Must Interculturalists misrepresent multiculturalism? Comparative Migration Studies 5. Parekh, B. The future of multi-ethnic Britain. The Parekh report. London: Profile Books. Phillips, A. Multiculturalism without culture. Princeton, Oxford: Princeton University Press.

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Received : 04 December Accepted : 16 February