‘The political accommodation by the state and/or a dominant group of all minority cultures, defined first and foremost by reference to race or ethnicity; and more controversially, by reference to nationality, aboriginality, or religion’ (Modood in I. McLean and A. McMillan, eds 2003). Nash (2005) Antipode 37, 2 describes multiculturalism as ‘the diverse policies and ways of thinking about societies characterised by cultural plurality’.

Liberal multiculturalism focuses on cultural diversity, celebrating ethnic variety, and teaching tolerance. Howard-Hassman (1999) Canad. Pub. Policy/Analyse de pol. 523 observes that the public policy of liberal multiculturalism encourages private, individual choices of identity; ‘paradoxically, this liberal policy also encourages identification with Canada and Canadian citizenship’. Nash (2003) PHG 27, 5 contends that neoliberal multiculturalism ‘delegitimates the politics of class and redistributive justice and provides opportunities for more overtly reactionary versions of nationhood to emerge’.

Critical multiculturalism is concerned with ‘majorities’ as much as ‘minorities’, and considers the institutions and practices forming the whole society. It sees inequalities of power, and racism, as central, and emphasizes recognition and rights. ‘The continuous invocation of “oppression” in critical multiculturalism, and related calls for “counter-hegemonic” action, look incongruous: oppression becomes a thoroughly discursive, contestable and pluralized modality, and “hegemony” itself is an impossible attempt to constitute imaginary unity out of palpable diversity’ (McClennan (2001) Ethnicities 1, 3).