ABSTRACT
American society was already multicultural long before the term “multiculturalism” emerged in the 1970s. By multiculturalism we mean the acceptance of difference founded in cultural diversity and ethnic values such as language, food, traditions, attitudes or cultural heritages. Unlike the “melting pot” model of cultural blending, which requires racial/ethnic minorities or immigrants to conform to the standard and core values of the society, multiculturalism has given the largest scope to reciprocity with respect to the cultural influences that racial minority or immigrant groups have brought with them to the United States. Although the idea of multiculturalism spread widely in the 1980s through slogans related to cultural pluralism, how the term was first used or developed remains vague, and questions related to political and ideological meanings and implications of the term have been continuously raised.
