Page 182 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

168 Citizenship

Front Party, the largest of its kind in Europe, have been against multicul-
turalism. This resistance is constructed in terms of a fundamental com-
mitment to French republicanism as historically involving universal
equality for citizens. That is to say, in France no difference amongst citi-
zens should be recognized by the state: all individuals are treated equally
insofar as they are treated the same. As a consequence, it is maintained
that the French state should not even gather statistics on ethnic minorities
– to know, for example, the extent of racism and discrimination in
employment and state services – far less accord different groups different
rights. In fact, it has been shown that the construction of French univer-
salism as dating back to the French Revolution is a myth: it was actually
promoted by right - wing intellectuals in the media and taken up by policy -
makers as part of the rise of racist nationalism with the emergence of the
National Front Party led by Jean Le Pen in the mid - 1980s (Favell, 2001 ;
Brubaker, 2002 ). It is a myth that is, however, now very well - established

and difficult to challenge, even if it is coming under increased pressure as
a result of growing unrest amongst young French people.
As multiculturalists see it, recognizing cultural differences in group -
differentiated polyethnic citizenship rights enables genuine integration,
while the assimilationist model results in exclusion for those who do not

fit, or who are seen as not fitting, the dominant culture. Kymlicka (1995)
argues that, far from encouraging the fragmentation of society, as assimi-

lationists fear, demands for culturally specific rights enable minorities to
participate fully in a multicultural society.
Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that “ culture ” itself is a term
which may be used to different effect in different situations. There are
certainly cases where it is inappropriate to think of unequal citizenship
as primarily a matter of cultural differences. In some cases, indeed, this
may be a way of de - legitimizing claims for greater equality. Perhaps the

best example of the difficulty of thinking of citizenship in this way is the
position of African - Americans in the United States and the way in which
the New Right has suggested cultural differences as the reason for their
predominance in “ the underclass. ”
Since the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the chief issue
for African - Americans in terms of citizenship has been integration through
desegregation. The striking separation of black and white in the US invari-
ably works to the advantage of whites: poor housing, neighborhoods
with high rates of crime, poor schools, low pay, and limited job oppor-
tunities restrict the realization of full citizenship rights for black Americans
in comparison with whites. The role of culture in segregation is, however,
far from clear. As Kymlicka notes, African - Americans fi t neither