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Transformative Multiculturalism: Irish Minorities and National Identity in Hard Times

One of the objections to multiculturalism is the idea that it undermines social solidarity and thereby makes redistribution and social justice more difficult to achieve. The argument holds that the overarching union behind the multicultural project is over-taxed by the very project it is asked to support and that to counteract its effects there must be an enhanced focus on “civic integration” (Joppke, 2004, 243). David Goodhart coined the term the “progressive’s dilemma” to describe this effect which says that circumstances force us to choose between a multiculturalist approach that divides us and a national unity approach that binds us together behind a common good (Goodhart 2005, 156; Kymlicka and Banting 2006, 283-9).1 If such an effect exists, it means that multiculturalist states will struggle when it comes to coping with “hard times” especially in the form of economic challenges. This paper argues that this is an unduly pessimistic view. While social solidarity is critical to redistribution during hard times, and while multiculturalism does introduce changes to these relations, the critique is based on a view of multiculturalism as cultivating cultural silos, based on essentialised ideal of a culture (Modood 2007, 97). But this does not adequately capture how multiculturalism works in practice.