Original articleRace, gender and sexuality: The oppression of multiculturalism
Introduction
Homophobia, racism and sexism are widespread in Britain and take overt, covert and institutionalised forms. Following publication of The MacPherson Report of Inquiry into police handling of the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, racialised relations have acquired a high profile and the government has pledged action to combat institutionalised racism. No such pledge has been made in respect of homophobia or sexism, despite their extent and effects being comparable to those of racism, up to and including physical violence and murder.
In this article we argue that one of the reasons for this is the dominance of multiculturalism in Britain which has negatively influenced the domains of gender and sexuality as well as ethnicity. This is despite the fact that academics, policy makers and activists in Britain have a long tradition of ignoring the intersections and interactions between these social divisions. Notable exceptions to this are such feminist academics as Allen (1987); Allen, Anthias & Yuval-Davis (1991); Anthias 1992, Anthias 1996; Anthias & Yuval-Davis (1984); Ramazanoglu (1993); Rowbotham, Segal & Wainwright (1979), on gender, race/ethnicity and class; Amos & Parmar (1984); Carby (1982); hooks (1982, 1990), on race and gender; and Anthias & Yuval-Davis (1984), on feminism, gender, ethnicity and class. We illustrate our thesis on multiculturalism with reference to domestic violence in minority ethnic communities; forced arranged marriage; violence against gay and lesbian people and female genital mutilation, all of which highlight wider issues around the control of gender and sexuality. We then analyse some of the theoretical, practical and philosophical reasons why a movement engaged in the struggle for racial/social justice can operate in oppressive ways. These include approaches to the analysis of power, the adoption of unitary definitions of oppression, the material context of capitalism and the logical, sociological and philosophical problems that are inherent in the concept of multiculturalism itself.
Our conclusion is an uncomfortable one: it is that multiculturalism not only exacerbates and legitimises the oppression of already oppressed minority groups, but poses threats to liberal democracy and individual human rights. This is not a popular position to adopt at a time when the dominance of multiculturalism is such that critical voices are silenced, oppressive cultural practices invisibalised and contradictions between the ideals of multiculturalism and those of liberal democracy masked. We believe, however, that it is pertinent to insert a note of caution in the context of a “new” Europe which is currently rethinking its identity in the light of ethnic, cultural and religious heterogeneity.1 Our aim in doing so is not to deny the validity of much of the multicultural project, particularly in relation to the struggle against racism. Nor is it to propose that monoculturalism is desirable or possible. Even less is it to support what Balibar describes as “social authoritarian arguments for the forcible assimilation of [ethnic] minorities into the national culture” (Balibar, 1991, p. 5). It is, however, to propose that analysis of, and action on, oppression needs to be inclusive of all human rights and to build on awareness of individuals' multiple identities and locations. It is also to note the need for such analysis and action to be sociologically informed in relation to the intersection and interaction of social divisions and the implications of this at the macro-, mezzo-, and microlevels of society.
Section snippets
Multiculturalism in western europe
Throughout this article, we use the term “multiculturalism” in its contemporary British sense to refer to theory, policy and practice which are part of the struggle for racial justice. This definition incorporates the subsequent development of “antiracism” on the grounds that the clear theoretical distinctions between the two approaches (Troyna, 1983) are not reflected in practice. Multiculturalism, variously defined, is part of a response to the ethnically heterogeneous societies that
Domestic Violence in Minority Ethnic Communities
There is growing evidence of domestic violence in Asian communities in Britain (Keighley Domestic Violence Forum [KDVF], 1998; Macey 1999, Pansini-Murrell & Macey 1998, Women Against Fundamentalism 1998 [WAF]). Women are sometimes implicated in this, as instigators and/or perpetrators, and they, along with religious leaders and employees of racial equality organisations, collude in denying its existence—“such things cannot happen in Muslim communities” (Ali, 1992). This is despite the fact that
Social Movements and the Analysis of Power
In Britain, analyses of power by social scientists and antiracist, gay liberation and women's rights activists shifted over time from a psychological paradigm to a sociological one. The former focused on individual prejudice as an explanation of disadvantage/oppression; the latter located oppression in social structures and developed analyses of power as heterosexist, patriarchal and White. This constituted a highly significant theoretical and practical development.8
However, the structuralist
Limits to Diversity?
The implementation of fully-fledged multiculturalism raises fundamental questions about the nature of social relationships and society itself. Mitchell and Russell observe: “… the right to be different can never be unconditional … No society can maintain a position in which ‘anything goes’ at the cultural level within its various communities” (Mitchell & Russell, 1994, p. 153). To agree with this statement is not to slip into ethnocentrism or racism. It is, however, to state the sociologically
Liberal Democracy and Individual Human Rights
From the end of the second World War, democracy in Western Europe has been viewed as a system of social relationships resting on acceptance of the primacy of individual human rights over collective ones (Dalacoura, 1998). Democracy is inextricably bound up with conceptions of universalistic liberalism (Vincent, 1995) and carries an impetus towards equality and the extension of human rights (Marshall, 1950 [1992]). Notwithstanding the continued existence of inequality in Britain (and wider
Conclusion: multiculturalism and human rights
In this article we have focused on three significant dimensions of inequality in contemporary British society: gender, race/ethnicity and sexuality. We have suggested that multiculturalism has become a dominant ideology, not only in the battle against racism, but in the struggles for women's, gay and lesbian rights, where it has permeated theory, policy and action. We have examined a number of reasons for this, including incomplete analyses of power, inadequate theorisation of the
Endnotes
There is an interesting tension between suggestions that the “new” European identity is White and Christian Allen & Macey 1990, Boateng 1989, Sivanandan 1989 and notions that it involves a reconceptualisation of ethnic pluralism/multiculturalism Ben-Tovim 1997, Modood 1997, Werbner 1997.
Until recent changes in Home Office guidance, women whose entry into Britain depended on marriage could be deported if they fled domestic violence, forcing them to return to often hostile “homes.” It remains to
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