We Are All Multiculturalists Now

by Nathan Glazer

The melting pot is no more. Where not very long ago we sought assimilation, we now pursue multiculturalism. Nowhere has this transformation been more evident than in the public schools, where a traditional Eurocentric curriculum has yielded to diversity--and, often, to confrontation and confusion. In a book that brings clarity and reason to this highly charged issue, Nathan Glazer explores these sweeping changes. He offers an incisive account of why we all--advocates and skeptics alike--have become multiculturalists, and what this means for national unity, civil society, and the education of our youth. Focusing particularly on the impact in public schools, Glazer dissects the four issues uppermost in the minds of people on both sides of the multicultural Whose "truth" do we recognize in the curriculum? Will an emphasis on ethnic roots undermine or strengthen our national unity in the face of international disorder? Will attention to social injustice, past and present, increase or decrease civil disharmony and strife? Does a multicultural curriculum enhance learning, by engaging students' interest and by raising students' self-esteem, or does it teach irrelevance at best and fantasy at worst? Glazer argues cogently that multiculturalism arose from the failure of mainstream society to assimilate African Americans; anger and frustration at their continuing separation gave black Americans the impetus for rejecting traditions that excluded them. But, willingly or not, "we are all multiculturalists now," Glazer asserts, and his book gives us the clearest picture yet of what there is to know, to fear, and to ask of ourselves in this new identity.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Nathan Glazer was an American sociologist who taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and for several decades at Harvard University.

Reviews

[Hubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glazer is certainly one of the preeminent sociological thinkers of our time. It's interesting reading this 20 years after publication though: a lot of assumptions he makes about our core ideals as a multicultural society have changed. Framing the question of what makes us American, I think more contemporary thinkers would frame the question of assimilation versus diversification in more complex ways. Still good to read though.

[Matthew Matheson]

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[Hoonie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like writer's writing style