Criticism of multiculturalism questions the ideal of the hegemonic maintenance of distinct ethnic cultures within a country. Multiculturalism is a particular subject of debate in certain European nations that are associated with the idea of a nation state. Critics of multiculturalism may argue against cultural integration of different ethnic and cultural groups to the existing laws and values of the country. Alternatively critics may argue for assimilation of different ethnic and cultural groups to a single national identity.
Social trust Harvard professor of political science Robert D. Putnam conducted a nearly decade long study on how diversity affects public trust and social cohesion. In the presence of such ethnic diversity, Putnam maintains that "we hunker down. We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it's not just that we don't trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don't trust people who look like us."
Australia
Rifts within Australian society, right through history, whether between the continent's Indigenous people and the European settler population or, in recent times, inter-ethnic tension manifest in the form of riots, street violence and ethnic gangs pose major challenges to multiculturalism in the country.
The response to multiculturalism in Australia has been varied. A nationalist, anti-mass immigration party, the One Nation Party, was formed by Pauline Hanson in the late 1990s. The party enjoyed brief electoral success, most notably in its home state of Queensland, but became electorally marginalized until its resurgence in 2016. In the late 1990s, One Nation called for the abolition of multiculturalism alleging that it represented "a threat to the very basis of the Australian culture, identity and shared values", arguing that there was "no reason why migrant cultures should be maintained at the expense of our shared, national culture."
An Australian Federal Government proposal in 2006 to introduce a compulsory citizenship test, which would assess English skills and knowledge of Australian values, sparked renewed debate over the future of multiculturalism in Australia. Andrew Robb, then Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, told a conference in November 2006 that some Australians worried the term "multicultural" had been transformed by interest groups into a philosophy that put "allegiances to original culture ahead of national loyalty, a philosophy which fosters separate development, a federation of ethnic cultures, not one community". He added: "A community of separate cultures fosters a rights mentality, rather than a responsibilities mentality. It is divisive. It works against quick and effective integration."The Courier Mail: National identity in spotlight, 28 November 2006 . The Australian citizenship test commenced in October 2007 for all new citizens between the ages of 18 and 60.
In January 2007, the Howard Government removed the word "multicultural" from the name of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, changing its name to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
Intellectual critique The earliest academic critics of multiculturalism in Australia were the philosophers Lachlan ChipmanLachlan Chipman (1980), 'The Menace of Multiculturalism,' in Quadrant, Vol. 24, No. 10, October, pp. 3–6 and Frank Knopfelmacher,Frank Knopfelmacher (1982), 'The case against multi-culturalism,' in Robert Manne (ed.), The New Conservatism in Australia, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, pp. 40–66 sociologist Tanya BirrellTanya Birrell (1978), 'Migration and the Dilemmas of Multiculturalism,' in Robert Birrell and Colin Hay (eds.), The Immigration Issue in Australia, A Sociological Symposium, Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, pp. 132–46 and the political scientist Raymond Sestito.Raymond Sestito (1982), The Politics of Multiculturalism, The Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney, New South Wales () Chipman and Knopfelmacher were concerned with threats to social cohesion, while Birrell's concern was that multiculturalism obscures the social costs associated with large scale immigration that fall most heavily on the most recently arrived and unskilled immigrants. Sestito's arguments were based on the role of political parties. He argued that political parties were instrumental in pursuing multicultural policies, and that these policies would put strain on the political system and would not promote better understanding in the Australian community.Sestito (1982), pp. 30–36Lyle Allan (1983), 'A Selective Annotated Bibliography of Multiculturalism', in Social Alternatives (University of Queensland), Vol.3, No.3, July, p. 68
It was the high-profile historian Geoffrey Blainey, however, who first achieved mainstream recognition for the anti-multiculturalist cause when he wrote that multiculturalism threatened to transform Australia into a "cluster of tribes". In his 1984 book All for Australia, Blainey criticised multiculturalism for tending to "emphasise the rights of ethnic minorities at the expense of the majority of Australians" and also for tending to be "anti-British", even though "people from the United Kingdom and Ireland form the dominant class of pre-war immigrants and the largest single group of post-war immigrants."
According to Blainey, such a policy, with its "emphasis on what is different and on the rights of the new minority rather than the old majority," was unnecessarily creating division and threatened national cohesion. He argued that "the evidence is clear that many multicultural societies have failed and that the human cost of the failure has been high" and warned that "we should think very carefully about the perils of converting Australia into a giant multicultural laboratory for the assumed benefit of the peoples of the world."Blainey, Geoffrey (1984). All For Australia, North Ryde, NSW: Methuen Haynes ()
In one of his numerous criticisms of multiculturalism, Blainey wrote:
For the millions of Australians who have no other nation to fall back upon, multiculturalism is almost an insult. It is divisive. It threatens social cohesion. It could, in the long-term, also endanger Australia's military security because it sets up enclaves which in a crisis could appeal to their own homelands for help.Blainey, Geoffrey (1991). "Australia: One Nation, or a Cluster of Tribes?". In Ramsay, Jim (ed.). Our Heritage and Australia's Future: A Selection of Insights and Concerns of Some Prominent Australians. Schwartz & Wilkinson. pp. 49–61.
Blainey remained a persistent critic of multiculturalism into the 1990s, denouncing multiculturalism as "morally, intellectually and economically ... a sham".
The late historian John Hirst was another intellectual critic of multiculturalism.John Hirst, Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, Black Inc. Agenda, Melbourne () He has argued that while multiculturalism might serve the needs of ethnic politics and the demands of certain ethnic groups for government funding for the promotion of their separate ethnic identity, it was a perilous concept on which to base national policy.John Hirst, Sense and Nonsense in Australian History, Black Inc. Agenda, Melbourne (), p. 22
Critics associated with the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University have argued that both Right and Left factions in the Australian Labor Party have adopted a multicultural stance for the purposes of increasing their support within the party.Ernest Healy (1993), 'Ethnic ALP Branches – The Balkanisation of Labor,' in People and Place. Vol. 1, No. 4, pp 37–43 A manifestation of this embrace of multiculturalism has been the creation of ethnic branches within the Labor Party and ethnic branch stacking.Ernest Healy (1993), 'Ethnic ALP Branches – The Balkanisation of Labor,' in People and Place. Vol. 1, No. 4, p. 37
Following the upsurge of support for the One Nation Party in 1996, Lebanese-born Australian anthropologist Ghassan Hage published a critique in 1997 of Australian multiculturalism in the book White Nation."Hage, G. (1997) White Nation: Fantasies of White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society, Annandale, NSW: Pluto Press ()"
Canada
Many Québécois, despite an official national bilingualism policy, insist that multiculturalism threatens to reduce them to just another ethnic group. Quebec's policy seeks to promote interculturalism, welcoming people of all origins while insisting that they integrate into Quebec's majority French-speaking society. In 2008, a Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences, headed by sociologist Gerard Bouchard and philosopher Charles Taylor, recognized that Quebec is a de facto pluralist society, but that the Canadian multiculturalism model "does not appear well suited to conditions in Quebec". The Premier of Quebec François Legault openly opposes multiculturalism as a policy, stating that putting all cultures on the same level hurts Quebec and their ability to define themselves as a distinct nation. Quebec Parliament have also passed bills that directly oppose Federal policies of multiculturalism, such as Bill 21 which prevents people who wear religious symbols from participating as public servants.
The leader of the Peoples Party of Canada, Maxime Bernier, has criticized the policy of "extreme multiculturalism". Examples of this would be the naming of a park after foreign historical figures. Bernier believes that diversity is good, but not the 'our' strength. He fears that immigrants with different cultures will have different values, and that the celebration of diversity promotes disunity. His political party has proposed cutting all government funding towards policies of multiculturalism and utilizing funding and resources towards integration. Additionally, they would face-to-face interviews to be conducted on all immigration candidates to ensure their values align with "Canadian Values".
Neil Bissoondath in his book Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada, argues that official multiculturalism limits the freedom of minority members, by confining them to cultural and geographic ethnic enclaves. He also argues that cultures are very complex, and must be transmitted through close family and kin relations. To him, the government view of cultures as being about festivals and cuisine is a crude oversimplification that leads to easy stereotyping.
Daniel Stoffman's book Who Gets In questions the policy of Canadian multiculturalism. Stoffman points out that many cultural practices, such as allowing dog meat to be served in restaurants and street cockfighting, are simply incompatible with what he regards as Canadian (i.e. Western) culture. He also raises concern about the number of recent immigrants who are not being linguistically integrated into Canada (i.e., not learning either English or French). He stresses that multiculturalism works better in theory than in practice and Canadians need to be far more assertive about valuing the "national identity of English-speaking Canada".
Germany