Diversity Immigration Ethnicity and Integration Shameless Advertising The

Diversity Immigration, Ethnicity and Integration

Shameless Advertising

The Liberal Case Against Diversity • I argue for assimilation: the melting-pot—not the salad-bowl • And proactive government intervention to facilitate assimilation • Including strict enforcement of anti-discrimination regulations and affirmative action policies (with ‘hard quotas’) • Because multiculturalism locks individuals into unchosen identities, affiliations and social arrangements. • The supreme fundamental value of liberalism is individual choice, —minimizing the extent to which unchosen characteristics and circumstances constrain individuals’ options.

Asking the right questions Philosophy may not have the answers but it can teach us how to frame the questions! Our Founder

Sen’s Questions • Should people be categorized in terms of inherited traditions of the community in which they happen to have been born, taking that unchosen identity to have automatic priority over other affiliations? • Or should they be understood as persons with many affiliations and associations, whose relative priorities they must themselves choose. • Should we assess the fairness of multiculturalism primarily by the extent to which people from different cultural backgrounds are ‘left alone’, • Or by the extent to which their ability to make reasoned choices is positively supported by the social opportunities of education and participation in civil society?

‘Framing’: asking the right questions • The conventional framing of disputes about multiculturalism – Do minorities have a ‘duty to assimilate’? – Does ‘diversity’ undermine loyalty to the country of residence? – Does multiculturalism put minorities at an unfair advantage? • Another way of framing the controversy – Do immigrants and ethnic minorities ceteris paribus WANT to maintain group cohesiveness and distinct ‘cultures? – Do current social arrangements thwart the desire of minorities to assimilate? – Does multiculturalism add to the unfair disadvantages minorities face?

MULTICULTURALISM

What is multiculturalism? • What (as understood here) it is not: – multi-ethnicity or – cultural hybridity • What it is (Sen’s ‘Plural Monoculturalism’) – A multi-ethnic society ought to be a “salad bowl” where diverse groups, maintaining their separate identities, interact peacefully without coalescing – Individuals, in the interests of ‘authenticity’, ought to maintain, or reestablish, connections to their ancestral cultures.

What kind of salad do multiculturalists want?

Some Multiculturalist Policies • Semi-autonomy for minority communities – Ottoman Turkish millet system – Amish communities – Indian reservations • The Dutch pillar system: thoroughly modern multiculturalism • “Economic multiculturalism” in Japan

‘Boutique Multiculturalism’ [T]he boutique multiculturalist will accord a superficial respect to cultures other than his own, a respect he will withdraw when he finds the practices of a culture irrational or inhumane. [Stanley Fish]

Real Multiculturalism • Real multiculturalism restricts individual choice – ethnic affiliation is ascribed and immutable: exit is not feasible for most ‘ethnics’—especially members of ‘visible minorities’. • Real multiculturalism undermines social cohesion – ‘Diverse’ societies have less bridging and bonding social capital (Putnam, Goodhart) • Tribalism has been managed by political elites resulting in machine politics and corruption, undermining development – In Africa (Rawlenson) – and in Eastern cities

ASSIMILATION

The Immigrant Second Generation Alejandro Portes. Legacies

The Rainbow Underclass As Jesselyn tells it, she assimilated to the surrounding values of gangsta rap. Writing in her eighth -grade yearbook, she celebrated friends as “my nigga!” and labeled enemies “crackers, ” “bamma” and “whyte. ”“If you’re Hispanic, people already expect you to steal, to fight, to be rude, to be ghetto, ” Jesselyn said. “If everyone thinks wrong of you, eventually you’re going to start thinking wrong about yourself. ” Where Failing Means Fitting In (NYTimes, April 18, 2009)

The Glass Ceiling • Alerloff on the Reds and the Greens: Economics and Identity – Alaric, inventor of the Goths – Australian Assimilation policy for Aboriginal people and ‘stolen generation’ – Lispeth – Franz Fanon • Is real assimilation possible? • And, if possible, is it desirable? And if so, for whom?

Cultural Preservation or Assimilation? • Problem: Do people like “their” cultures and communities? – We can’t assume that all do (some do, some don’t) – We shouldn’t assume that all should • Problem. Accommodating cultural preservationists has consequences for assimilationists—’scripting’ and the ‘tyranny of authenticity’. • Problem. Undermines the welfare state: ‘The basis on which you can extract large sums of money in tax and pay it out in benefits is that most people think that the recipients are people like themselves, facing difficulties which they themselves could face…Progressives want diversity but they thereby undermine…[the] welfare state (Goodhart)

When, if ever, can people stop being “ethnic”? How am I supposed to feel French when people always describe me as a Frenchman of Algerian origin? I was born here. I am French. How many generations does it take to stop mentioning my origin? [Nadir Dendoune ]

Keith Richburg After a stint at the Washington Post’s Africa Bureau in Nairobi writes: Talk to me about Africa and my black roots and my kinship with my African brothers and I’ll throw it back in your face…I feel no attachment to the place or the people. And why should I feel anything more? Because my skin is black? …I want no part of it.

SOCIAL SALIENCE

White Privilege • Why would anyone want to ‘stop being ethnic? ’ • Whiteness is ‘transparent’--nonsalient--in most social contexts • In the way that being male is transparent—in most social contexts • Whiteness confers the privilege of not having an ethnic identity—of ‘being an X’

What is ‘White Privilege’ Whiteness is the marker of racial invisibility in America…I am talking about an inner freedom from a superficial definition imposed by others…Having no racial self-identification is a utopian state because it allows you to escape this malignant mirror. Gary Kiyama. ‘Black vs. “black”’

Minority ethnic identities • Socially salient • Scripted • Impose no-exit rules

Social Salience A property is socially salient within a community to the extent that members of the community take it to predict or explain beliefs, character traits, tastes or other socially significant psychological characteristics. In the Anglophone community being French is socially salient

Social Salience Even if F-hood is salient, belonging to a subset of F complement may be non-salient (“transparent”) Being a used car salesman is socially salient…Being a teacher, doctor or customer sales representative is not.

Social salience is unchosen • Where a property is non-salient, individuals who have that property may choose the extent to which it figures as part of their social identity • Where it is salient, individuals do not have that choice. Handedness is innate but non-salient: you can choose how big a deal you want to make of being a lefty. Sex is salient: you can’t choose not to be viewed as male or female.

SCRIPTS

Appiah. Color Conscious • Ethnic identity is ‘scripted’ – What demanding respect for people as Blacks or as gays requires is that there be some scripts that go with being an African-American or having same-sex desires…If I had to choose between Uncle Tom and Black Power, I would, of course, choose the latter. But I would like not to have to choose. I would like other options. • Social color-consciousness imposes burdens on ethnically identified individuals • Arguably, color-conscious, and gender-conscious policies , including affirmative action, are necessary in order, ultimately, to achieve a fair, color-blind society.

What is Said and What is Meant • Why ‘color-blindness’ gets bad press… • Statements that are literally inoffensive may mean things that are highly offensive. – Locutionary act: what is said – Illocutionary act: what is meant • Example: ‘It’s awfully hot in here’. – Locutionary act: asserting that it’s awfully hot – Illocutionary act: directing the hearer to close the window • Things you just can’t say (without being misunderstood)…

Example: ‘The Culture of Poverty’ What Oscar Lewis said • poverty induces behaviors that lock people into poverty. • To break the vicious circle, improve the material conditions of their lives. How Lewis is read: • People are responsible and blameworthy for being poor. • Improving the material conditions of their lives is pointless because they’ll just keep behaving badly. ‘Culture of Poverty’ Makes a Comeback

Example: ‘All lives matter’. • Locutionary act: asserting that all lives matter • Illocutionary act: suggesting that Black Lives Matter is illegitimate What founder Alicia Garza said: ‘When we say Black Lives Matter, we are talking about the ways in which Black people are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity…the fact is that the lives of Black people—not ALL people— exist within these conditions is consequence of state violence. ’ How it was read: Black lives matter more…blacks should get special treatment. Assimilationist agenda should be rejected in favor of ethnic separatism—integrationist civil rights movement in favor of Black Power.

Appiah: Identity Politics as a Noble Lie • Noble Lie: a myth or untruth told to maintain social harmony or to advance an agenda…a concept originated by Plato as described in the Republic. • ‘An African-American after the Black Power movement takes the old script of self-hatred…and works, in community with others, to construct a series of positive black life-scripts. • ‘It may even be, historically, strategically necessary for the story to go this way’. – Compare how this political necessity plays out in feminism and quests for gay and trans rights.

Consequences: Noble Lies Backfire • ‘There will be a proper way of being black and gay: there will be expectations to be met; demands will be made. – Someone who takes autonomy seriously will want to ask whether we have not replaced one kind of tyranny with another…those who see potential for conflict between individual freedom and the politics of identity are right’. • Statistical Discrimination (also Tomboys and Femmes problem) – ‘Suppose that…the group to which I obviously belong scores averagely low on a test that is genuinely predictive of jobperformance’… and expensive. – ‘Rational for an employer knowing what group I belong to, simply not to give me the best and, thus, not to hire me’

Making Ethnic Identities Non-Salient • Producing a population less various in some of the respects that make a difference to major socioeconomic indicators…would not mean that everybody would be the same as everybody else but it could lead to – a more recreational conception of racial identity…[making] African. American identity more like Irish-American identity for most of those who care to keep the label… – Or like left-handedness • In policing this imperialism of identity -an imperialism as visible in racial identities as anywhere else- it is crucial to remember always that we are not simply black or white or yellow or brown, gay or straight or bisexual, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Confucian: but that we are also brothers and sisters; parents and children ; liberals, conservatives, and leftists; teachers and lawyers and auto-makers and gardeners; fans of the Padres and the Bruins; amateurs of grunge rock and lovers of Wagner

Alex Rawlinson THE POLITICAL MANIPULATION OF ETHNICITY IN AFRICA

Consequences: African Ethnic Politics • Ethnic mobilization has been the main source of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa since independence (from 1957 onwards) and one of the major barriers to human and economic development in African societies’ • ‘Tribalism’ is largely a political contest, managed by elites, for influence in the state and control of its resources • The Big Man patronage system – as in Rome: patrons compete for clients, their power-base. – remember Collier on 2 ways of understanding democracy. • This instrumental use of ethnicity dominates political contestation at the expense of other cleavages

Ethnicity, Class and Nation • The instrumental use of ethnicity undermines cohesive national identity – ‘Tribes’, initially more fluid, were institutionalized by colonial governments to maintain power and indirect rule. – Emergence of African nationalism during the colonial era was, in most cases, the product of the small African middle classes…[who] found that they could not break through the glass ceiling of racial prejudice. • In addition, ‘Ethnicity…it involves the ‘necessary displacement of class politics’. – In Africa… – And the US: collapse of trade unions, working class whites promoting policies against their economic interests

David Goodhart TOO DIVERSE?

Consequences: ‘Progressive Dilemma’ • ‘Progressives want diversity but they thereby undermine part of the moral consensus on which a large welfare state rests. – You can have a Swedish welfare state provided that you are a homogeneous society with intensely shared values. – In the US you have a very diverse, individualistic society where people feel fewer obligations to fellow citizens’.

Questions for Goodhart • Should we assume that immigrants or their descendants want to perpetuate different values or ways of life and will never assimilate? • Or that host countries will never accept them as part of their ingroup or ‘own kind’ as he puts it? • Surveying the American scene Goodhart notes that 70% of us are nonimmigrant non-minorities—non-Hispanic whites. • But most of that 70% are the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of immigrants who, a century ago, were popularly regarded as outsiders who could not, or would not assimilate

Robert Putnam E PLURIBUS UNUM: DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY

Social Capital • Social Capital: social networks and the associated norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness • Like tools (physical capital) and training (human capital), social networks have value. – To insiders, e. g. providing job contacts. – To bystanders, e. g. neighborhood network keeping Putnam’s house safe. • Conflict theories vs. conflict theories – Contact theory: diversity erodes in-group/out-group distinction, enhancing bridging capital and lowering ethnocentricism. – Conflict theory: diversity enhances in-group/out-group distinction, strengthening in-group solidarity or bonding capital.

Putnam: 3 Points on Ethnic Diversity • Ethnic diversity will increase substantially and is, on balance, good. • Diversity undermines social capital in the short to medium run: diverse neighborhoods’ residents of all races tend to ‘hunker down. Trust (even of one’s own race) is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friends fewer’—less bridging and bonding social capital! – reduces social cohesion amongst different communities – undermines social capital within communities (surprise!) • There is reason to believe that in the long run new “cross-cutting” forms of social solidarity will overcome such fragmentation—examples – the military – the ‘deaf community’

Immigration and Diversity: Benefits • Enhanced creativity, e. g. immigrants account for 3 to 4 times as many of America’s Nobel Laureates… • Associated with more rapid economic growth (note: adjusting for education, etc. immigrants do better economically than native born) • Immigration offsets effect of aging populations in affluent countries. • Immigration greatly enhances development of sending countries in the Global South – ‘So powerful is this effect that despite ‘brain drain’ costs, increasing annual northward immigration by only three percentage points might produce net benefits greater than meeting all our national targets for development assistance plus cancelling all Third World debt plus abolishing all barriers to Third World trade (World Bank 2005; Pritchett 2006)’

Immigration and Diversity: Costs • In workgroups—lower group cohesion, lower satisfaction and higher turnover. • Across countries, greater ethnic heterogeneity seems to be associated with lower social trust. • Across local areas in the US and elsewhere, lower investment in public goods. • In some Global South locations—higher default rates on micro-loans, less fund-raising, failure of collective infrastructure maintenance • In US, lower rates of car-pooling • In experiments of prisoners-dilemma, more ‘defecting. • In Union Army during Civil War, higher casualties, more desertion.

Racial Homogeneity and Inter-racial Trust Strong positive relationship between inter-facial trust and ethnic homogeneity.

Racial Homogeneity and Trust of Neighbors Strong positive relationship between trust of neighbors and ethnic homogeneity.

Racial Homogeneity and Intra-Racial Trust Strong positive relationship between trust of members of one’s own race and ethnic homogeneity.

‘They became us’ • Ethnic categories and their salience vary over time – Greeks and barbarians – Christendom and its outsiders in Byzantium—not now. – US: how the Irish, Italians and Jews became ‘white’ • Putnam’s proposed remedies – Opportunities for inter-ethnic interaction – Help in acculturation, e. g. English classes – Local groups promoting ‘bonding’ as a prelude to ‘bridging’ • E. g. the Italian Cultural Center in Little Italy, for ‘Italians, Italian. Americans and everyone who likes things Italian’