ABSTRACT
The particular sources I have chosen range from the worldfamous to the local or parochial, and this is quite as it should be: No one knows all the answers simply because they live in Metropolis rather than Middletown, or because they are paid by a university rather than a mosque. They also range from the theoretically self-conscious to the unconsciously theoretical. This again is quite as it should be, for most of the social theory we encounter does not come dressed up in the robes of grand theory, but dressed down in the humble smock of how readers “should” think to “help” in practical matters. This is, after all, how people buy other things, too: The sales talk warms their hearts, and the theoretical small print is taken on trust-until the Pay Later bills are marked Now Due. In investing in multiculturalism, we cannot buy the sales talk without reading the small print, too, and this is the point of this chapter. For all the offers we shall examine, the criteria will be the same: Do they essentialize such ideas as the nation-state, ethnic identity, religion, or even culture in general, or do they go beyond such reified absolutes? If they do, can they
come up with tangible ideas, or do they end up in a dreamy haze? To put it briefly: Are they pluralist without being vague?
