ABSTRACT
This chapter develops in two interrelated sections. First it follows the evolution of civil, political and social rights to better understand the more recent cultural rights. The second and final section highlights some crucial differences of present multicultural societies compared to other diverse cultural societies of the past. It also demonstrates how these dissimilarities create new challenges for the construction of multicultural democracies. Cultural rights in the modern world require not only individual rights but also group rights, as Harvey, Parekh or Kymlicka have correctly pointed out. The main aim of the first dimension of cultural rights is for everyone to attain what they desire regardless of their socio-economic position or class in society, and have access to the consumption and production of cultural goods. The aim of the second dimension of rights is to bring about the recognition of different social groups, many who have been discriminated against, including homosexuals and women as well as ethnocultural groups.
