A plural century: situating interculturalism and multiculturalism

This book explores the topics of interculturalism and multiculturalism, including their relationships to each other and to public philosophies more broadly. In many respects it is a timely and perhaps overdue intervention that locates the debate about interculturalism and multiculturalism in amongst a series of sociological and political developments. It is widely accepted that the significant movement and settlement of people outside their country of birth ‘is now structurally embedded in the economies and societies of most countries’ (Pécoud and de Guchteneire argue, 2007: 5). The prevailing context is that the majority of the world’s population resides in one hundred and seventy five poorer countries relative to the wealth that is disproportionately concentrated in around twenty. With levels of migration fluctuating but anxieties constant, it is common to hear governments and other agencies favour ‘managed migration’ and strategies for ‘integration’ which, though meaning different things in different places, registers migration and post-migration settlement as an intractable feature of contemporary society.