ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the value of cultural membership to the individual, particularly as it contributes to the expression of individual autonomy. It examines the case for group-differentiated rights for members of national cultures who are effectively national minorities within a liberal nation state. In practice, Kukathas and Kymlicka share a reluctance to allow the national political community to interfere with the practices of cultural minorities, implying that change should emanate from the minority cultural itself. Even a community by Kukathas' definition is open to the possibility and probability, then, of displaying a common moral standpoint. Even Kukathas relies on the liberal culture of the larger society to influence nonliberal subcultures, especially through its provision of a place into which those exercising freedom of exit may enter. The crux of the dilemma is that on the one hand, a liberal polity must be tolerant of diversity, without which the larger culture will be homogeneous and without a range of evaluative criteria.
