Multiculturalism can be seen as a rational system that allows immigrants to express their views within the host society. The term multiculturalism has been used in two broad ways: descriptively and normatively. As a descriptive term, multiculturalism refers to cultural diversity and as a normative term, it suggests the ideologies that endorse the diversity. The first form of multiculturalism refers to the presence of diverse cultures, whereas the second form tells how to maintain that cultural diversity, minority identity and how to improve it.

Bhikhu Parekh propounds pluralist multiculturalism and argues that multiculturalism has three central tenets.

• First, human beings are culturally embedded and they grow and live within a culturally structured world. Their thoughts are deeply shaped by culture and they can overcome some, but not all of its influences.
• Second, different cultures have different meanings of good life. Since each culture can develop limited range of human capabilities and can understand only a part of human existence as a whole, it requires other cultures to stretch its imagination and expand its intellectual boundaries. It also guards against any tendency towards absolutism in any culture. An individual’s life is likely to be richer if that person has access to others and in an interdependent and modern world, culturally self-contained life is impossible.
• Third, every culture is internally plural, its different strands of thought are in continuous conversation and hence, its identity is fluid, open and plural. Various cultures grow by conscious and unconscious interaction with each other and each carries bits of the other within itself.

Multiculturalism, according to Parekh, is a creative interplay between these three factors. He further argues that from a multicultural perspective, a society does not commit itself to a particular political doctrine or vision of good life. It also does not ask how much diversity to tolerate within the limits set by it as it forecloses its future development. Multiculturalism begins by accepting the desirability and reality of cultural diversity and structures its political life accordingly. It is a dialogically constituted society which wants to keep the continuous dialogue and nurture an atmosphere where boundaries of prevailing forms of thought can be expanded to generate collectively acceptable policies and principles.

Will Kymlicka’s theory on liberal multiculturalism combines the liberal values of equality and autonomy with the value of cultural membership. According to Kymlicka, culture is important to individuals for two reasons. First, membership of a culture is an important condition of personal autonomy as they serve as ‘contexts of choice’ and provide meaningful options by which an individual frames his life and goals. Second, cultural membership is important in shaping self-identity of an individual. A person’s self-respect is connected to the respect that is accorded by others to his/her culture. He further argues that since cultural minorities are disadvantaged in accessing their own culture compared to members of majority culture, minorities are entitled to special rights. He says that it is impossible for the state to be completely neutral and its involvement in the cultural character of the state is unavoidable. For ex, the public holidays that a government decides to observe would promote a certain culture and those who do not share the culture promoted by the state would be disadvantaged. True equality, according to him requires different treatment for different groups.

Challenges

• Despite its ideals, multiculturalism has faced critiques and challenges, including concerns about cultural relativism, social cohesion, and the integration of immigrant communities. Critics argue that multicultural policies may lead to cultural fragmentation, social segregation, and the prioritization of group rights over individual rights. Additionally, multiculturalism has been criticized for essentializing cultural identities, reinforcing stereotypes, and neglecting issues of power and inequality within and between cultural groups.
• Rajeev Bhargava highlights that the basic concept of multiculturalism weakens the foundation of a society and by providing equal rights to the oppressive cultures, multiculturalism decomposes the values of liberal democracy.
• Bhargava suggests a way out of these problems and supports democratic multiculturalism, which identifies the importance of cultural identity, the need to maintain differences and supports the idea of bringing these differences into the political domain. However, if this leads to over-politicization and conflicts, then it becomes necessary to support the politics of mutual detachment. Thus, it is clear that within democratic multiculturalism, a little space should also be provided for liberal multiculturalism to maintain balance among diverse cultures.

Each and every member of a cultural community should have an independent recognition within society. A member of a particular community cannot be treated as subordinate to other members of that community. This can also be termed as egalitarian multiculturalism as the class cannot be the basis of recognition but only culture and way of life.