ABSTRACT
Today’s advocates of multiculturalism and identity politics on the so-called “cultural left” reaffirm pluralism under a new name and in an adversarial spirit insisting that there is too little of it. Today’s advocates of multiculturalism and identity politics on the so-called “cultural left” reaffirm pluralism under a new name and in an adversarial spirit insisting that there is too little of it. Advocates of multiculturalism habitually insist that American society is becoming increasingly racially and culturally diverse and this has come to be widely taken for granted. It is regularly invoked by educational administrators committed to increasing the “diversity” of student bodies as well as by other bureaucrats anxious to present an enlightened face to the public. The adversarial political thrust of multiculturalism stems from its fixation on groups that have suffered victimization in the past in which membership is involuntary. The pluralism and multiculturalism of American society create multiple social identities for individuals to acquire and cherish.
