Everyday Multiculturalism: Individual Experience of Cultural Diversity

Cultural diversity is not a recent phenomenon: societies are based, in their very nature, on a complex variety of differences and specificities, whether these are grounded in religion, politics, class, gender, etc. The problem of transition from a monocultural to a multicultural society is therefore a false problem: a society remains multicultural despite more or less explicit attempts of homogenization and its supposed monoculturalism is nothing other than an intellectual construction. So the question must be formulated in other terms: it is not so much the transition from a monocultural society to a multicultural one that undermines the political and institutional sphere, but its visibility. Considering the intrinsic dualism of multiculturalism (as description and as prescription), the analysis is developed in the light of some considerations that seem unavoidable for a proper understanding of the concept, of its relevance and significance, as well as of its direct consequences on everyday life.