Bulletin n. 2/2007 | ||
October 2007 | ||
O'Donnell M. |
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Review Debate: We need human rights not nationalism 'lite'. Globalization and British solidarity. | ||
in Ethnicities , Vol. 7 n. 2 , 2007 , 248 - 269 | ||
The article explores the relationship of multiculturalism to social solidarity. The multicultural nature of Britain is accepted as a welcome reality but certain problems in relation to the development of multiculturalism in Britain are acknowledged. Various approaches to buttress or replace multiculturalism are reviewed. These are: a strengthened and/or reconstituted nationalism (`Britishness'); human rights; and social equality. The issue of citizenship recurs throughout. It is argued that a combined emphasis on human rights and greater social equality offer a better basis than nationalism for strengthening solidarity in Britain, especially in the longer term. Sociological theory offers a fruitful if strangely neglected starting point for understanding social solidarity. I draw critically on Durkheim and Marx to obtain some objective perspective on this controversial matter. | ||