Is There a Trade-off between Multiculturalism and Socio-Political Integration? Policy Regimes and Immigrant Incorporation in Comparative Perspective

2012/03/01 by Matthew Wright, Irene Bloemraad · 312 citations
Social Sciences · #Citizenship #Diaspora, migration, transnational identity #Gender studies #Government (linguistics) #Immigration #Inclusion (mineral) #Law #Migration and Labor Dynamics #Migration, Refugees, and Integration #Multiculturalism #Perspective (graphical) #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Sociology

paper · doi:10.1017/s1537592711004919

published in Perspectives on Politics 10(1), 77-95 (Cambridge University Press)

openalex publication_date 2012/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

Across immigrant-receiving democracies on both sides of the Atlantic, policies of “cultural recognition” (e.g., “multiculturalism”) have become a convenient punching-bag for political elites. Among academics, heated theoretical debates exist over whether such policies foster or hinder immigrants' engagement with their adoptive nation. We provide a novel empirical assessment of this debate from the immigrant perspective. We ask how multicultural and citizenship policies influence immigrants' socio-political engagement with their adoptive nation in three realms: social inclusion, political inclusion, and political engagement. Using a variety of cross-national and single-country surveys, we show that multiculturalism in no case hinders engagement with society and government, and in many cases seems to foster it. Thus, the claim that multiculturalism undermines immigrants' socio-political integration appears largely without foundation.

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