Session 10
Crawford Young, The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism, 1993, pp. 3-35
“The Dialectics of Cultural Pluralism: Concept and Reality”
I. Intro
Young discusses how his new book (the first chapter of which is assigned) will improve on his
1976 manuscript The Politics of Cultural Pluralism. He discusses how the 1960s saw the rise of ethnicity
as a central political variable, and by the 1990’s the mood was considerably different, “Gone with the cold
war were the comfortable certainties concerning the nation-state.”
He stresses that, “a transforming relationship between cultural pluralism and nation-state is a
central drama of our times,” and he wishes to capture the essence of these alterations both substantively
and theoretically. In this book he attempts to remedy several defects of the first article. 1. he does not
restrict the field of observation to third world countries (rather he will focus on U.S., former Soviet Union,
China, India, Ethiopia, and Guatemala), and 2. he will factor in gender.
In the remainder of the chapter we are assigned, the author proposes “a comparative
overview of the politics of cultural pluralism, with a focus upon change in the global historical
context and theoretical perspective – he explores both poles of the dialectic: major changes in the
global arena, and evolutions in theoretical discourse concerning cultural pluralism.”
II. The Emergence of the Nation-State






“Rather than a natural culmination of human progress and fulfillment of historic destiny, the
nation-state was a recent and novel development in European history, which appeared on the
scene at the time of the French Revolution.”
“Over time the doctrine became so fully incorporated into statehood as to make the words
interchangeable and frequently married by hyphenation.”
o Idea that a man must have a nationality, as he has a nose and two ears (Gellner)
o Achieving nationhood as much a mark of sovereignty as a flag, UN seat, or army
“The primal force of radical nationalism around the periphery of the empire was initially captured
by the promise of self-determination” following WWI
Same type of explosive self-determination doctrine used by anticolonial forces that entered Asia
and Africa
o Different results, as in Asia (Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and even India)
there was somewhat cultural or historical logic to the units of imperial rule, and in Africa
this was not the case
Concept of self-determination became international norm through the UN Charter, “yet it could
only be invoked territorially. Political struggle was driven into the compartments imposed by the
steel grid of colonial partition.” Pan-territorial ethnocultural solidarity could not serve as grounds
for self-determination.
Having achieved independence, “territories which had been units of convenience in struggle now
required that collective act of historical imagination to meet the requirements of nationhood.” (!)
III. Nationalism: Attempts at Assimilation



In the U.S., WWII was a profoundly unifying event, and vocabulary such as “minorities” or
“Latino”, “Chicano” or “African-American” had not yet received currency
Similarly in the USSR, many years of terror under Stalin and the stagnation years of Brezhnev
seemed to solidify the Soviet state
In Africa and Asia after independence, many agreed that “tribalism” signified “backwardness” and
there was a move to be rid of the “unwanted intrusion of traditionality into the drive for modernity
Page 1 of 3
IV. Disuniting the Nation



Numerous challenges to the state by the 1990’s
o “U.S. Groping towards a multi-cultural”;
o USSR dissolves in 1991;
o Immigrants world-wide are becoming permanent parts of a new population and eventually
want to win citizenship;
o In Latin America, an Indian consciousness emerges; and
o In Africa and Asia, “the initial illusions concerning the transformative force of nationalism
were swiftly dispelled – religion joins ethnicity and regionalism, as the earlier visions of
secular states tend to fade…”
Patterns of chance may be related to some overarching trends
o Sheer scale of population movement
o Differential reproductive rates
o Emergence of international regime mercantile blocks
o General assault on “Stalinism” and socialism by Reagan and Thatcher
o Retreat from populism
“The momentum towards political liberalization, and the relative institutional vacuum within newly
empowered civil societies, created a context I which cultural solidarities might most readily serve
as nodal points of structuration …. Were cultural pluralism to monopolize the political arena, to
serve the sole basis for organizing societal consciousness, democratization would face painful
obstacles to consolidation.”
V. The Dynamics of Self-Determination



Self-determination returned with a vengeance following WWII
In 1991 it profited from the sudden collapse of political order in USSR and Yugoslavia
Emergent international jurisprudence related to “native peoples” in US and Australia
VI. Three Conceptions of Cultural Pluralism

Three formative modes of theoretical discourse have emerged since 1950s
o Instrumentalist: “Cultural pluralism offers a repertory of social roles available for use in
pursuit of material advantage.”
o Primordialist: “Emerged to explore the psychological and cultural dimensions necessary
to grasp the intensities which might surround ethnic conflict.”
o Constructivist: “Bears the mark of post-structuralist theoretical discourse – ethnicity
requires deconstruction … it must be perceived as manufactured rather than given.”
VII. Class and Gender: Are They in Opposition to Cultural Pluralism?


The core of the contrast between class and cultural pluralism as political variables lies in the
primordial dimension – large-scale violence within polities has almost always been around
cultural, not class line.
Male and female, in most societies, are joined through the family structure – Identity definition
issues are most important in “the transmission of consciousness to the next generation.”
VIII. Empirical Insights into the Dynamics of Cultural Pluralism

“In Sum, the world enters a period of exceptional fluidity – of the sort which historically has
usually came about through the dislocation of a major war. Nation and state, as we have known
them, are interrogated by history and alternative visions for the future. In this process, the politics
of cultural pluralism will influence outcomes in many important ways. In turn, the prospective
impact of cultural pluralism beckons us to continue our quest for a more complete understanding
of its inner workings.”
Page 2 of 3
Page 3 of 3