Abstract

Multiculturalism has been conceptualized and applied in many different ways in different countries across the globe. This paper presents a new framework of the politics of multiculturalism in the United States. This framework consists of four different politics of multiculturalism: Multiculturalism as the Politics of Celebration, Multiculturalism as the Politics of Harmony, Multiculturalism as the Politics of Facilitation, and Multiculturalism as the Politics of Parity. These four types are associated with specific multicultural goals and specific types of multicultural policies. This paper will explain each of the four politics of multiculturalism in the United States, give examples of the different types of policies that have been advanced within each type, and assess the success of these policies. This paper contributes to the existing theoretical discussion of multiculturalism in the literature. Within that context, this paper also advances a new analysis of multicultural policies in the United States which contributes to the global discussion of strategies countries have utilized to address the complex problems of diverse societies.