UC Riverside

In this dissertation, I examine the role of multicultural policies and how they intersect in three salient areas of support for social policy, residential segregation, and attitudes towards homosexuality. Multiculturalist policies emphasize cultural accommodation for immigrants through legal protections and can often take the form of constitutional recognition, dual citizenship, and multilingual education in schools for immigrant groups. Multiculturalism promises to facilitate integration and expand social boundaries to increasingly recognize immigrants as an important component of the national citizenry. However, the literature is far from clear about its effects. Indeed, it is incredibly contentious. Critics argue that multicultural policies encourage integration into ethnic over mainstream institutions. In turn, such policies have important effects for both natives and immigrant groups. Critics suggest that immigrants would not assimilate, live parallel lives, and experience sharp cultural divisions from mainstream values. For natives, critics argue multicultural policies reify ethnic boundaries, and thereby reduce support for social policies. These concerns are particularly important in age where discourses of welfare retrenchment are highly visible.

Proponents strongly disagree. An opposing scholarship suggests that multiculturalist policies improve integration outcomes and promote a largely positive message of the impact of immigration for host societies. In turn, not only would multicultural policies facilitate integration, but also reduce the boundaries of “otherness” that immigrants face in host societies. There are strikingly few empirical studies that adjudicate between these two camps. This is unfortunate given the enormous space immigration occupies within modern political discourse. Overall, there remains mixed findings with multicultural policies increasing support for social policy but having little impact for residential segregation and attitudes towards homosexuality for immigrant groups. However, the findings are incongruent with narratives that suggest that multiculturalist policies facilitate negative social consequences.