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Citizenship 169

the category of multinational nor that of polyethnic group. They were
brought to the continent involuntarily, from different African cultural and
linguistic backgrounds, and for a long time they were actively discouraged
and even prohibited from trying to develop a common culture. They have
no homeland nor distinctive social forms in America as national minori-
ties do, and yet they have been kept physically segregated from the main-
stream white culture (Kymlicka, 1995 : 24). Multiculturalism has played
some part in the movement against segregation, challenging the ethnocen-
trism of the liberal arts canon in American education, for example, with
black history, literature, and so on. But the main claims for cultural dif-
ference have come from those who argue that poor black Americans
reproduce their poverty as a result of inappropriate attitudes to work and
family life. In this case, as we saw in section 4.1 , a discourse of cultural
difference reinforces segregation and legitimates inequalities rather than
articulating claims for more equal citizenship rights and the genuine par-
ticipation of all. We will look at these claims with respect to the racialized
underclass in more detail in section 4.4 below.
The movement against African - American segregation, although not
calling for group - differentiated rights on the basis of cultural differences,
has called for “ special rights ” for black people in order to redress historic
disadvantage. According to Kymlicka and others, such arguments are also
justified in liberal terms insofar as they are designed with the aim of bring-

ing about a color - blind meritocracy. The best known of these involves the
use of quotas in universities, companies, and the public sector to bring
the prospects of employment for black Americans closer to equivalence
with whites than they would otherwise be as a result of imposed historical
segregation, poorer living conditions, and disadvantage in the labor
market. “ Affi rmative action ” takes many forms, from “ active non - dis-
crimination ” in which the employer tries hard to recruit minority appli-
cants before deciding which candidate to employ for the job, to “ reverse
discrimination ” in which preference is given to applicants from minority
groups which have been discriminated against in the past. Affi rmative
action programs have always been extremely controversial and highly
politicized. They have been criticized from the left on the grounds that
they have benefited some black people while failing to address the problem

of black poverty as such. However, it is the right - wing criticism which is

currently dominant: that affirmative action is unfair to white individuals
who may not be chosen for jobs or university places in competition with
black people. The counter - argument that white people have only lost what
they gained through past discrimination no longer has the resonance it
once had. While affirmative action continues in the US, it is increasingly