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The Ambivalent Potential of Cultural Identity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Katherine Fierlbeck
Katherine Fierlbeck
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
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Abstract

Despite the overwhelming prevalence of democratic ideals in contemporary political relations throughout the world, a potent ideological challenge to liberal democratic norms is the recent claim that “differential” rights are essential to foster and protect the identity of individual rights within culturally distinct groups. This article examines the claim that cultural identity confers sufficient normative force upon which to base distinct political rights for specific groups. In what, precisely, does the normative force of “cultural identity” lie? The article challenges the claims that individuals' sense of personal identity can only arise through a “secure cultural context”; that a passive sense of group identity is a “primary good” that equals or even precedes the importance of universal human rights; and that this “politics of inclusion” based upon differential rights for different groups will lead to greater equality and tolerance within the larger political community.

Résumé

On se doit de constater la très grande prépondérance des idéaux démocratiques dans les relations politiques contemporaines dans le monde. Toutefois, la thèse selon laquelle les droits à géométrie variable sont essentiels pour protéger et promouvoir l'identité des droits individuels à l'intérieur de groupes culturellement distincts, s'est imposée comme un puissant défi idéologique lancé aux normes démocratiques et libérates. Cet article cherche à vérifier si l'identité culturelle confère suffisament de force normative pour légitimer l'attribution de droits politiques distincts à des groupes spécifiques. En quoi au juste consiste la force normative de l'identité culturelle? L'argumentation remet en question les idées suivantes: l'émergence d'un sens de l'identité personnelle chez les individus n'est possible qu'à travers un « contexte culturel protégé »; un sens passif de l'identité de groupe est tout aussi sinon plus importante que les droits humains universels; la « politique d'inclusion » basée sur des droits à géométrie variable pour des groupes différents mènera à plus de tolérance et d'égalité au sein de la communauté politique élargie.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , March 1996 , pp. 3 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1996

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References

* For their helpful criticism, the author thanks John MacKinnon, David Bray-brooke, Louise Carbert, Gil Winham and Denis Stairs.

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5 While this issue is most prevalent in current literature within the liberalism-communitarianism debates, it has arisen in many different controversies. Robert Nozick, for example, has taken John Rawls and Bernard Williams to task for their “self-esteem” defences for some modicum of equality by arguing that “when everyone, or almost everyone, has some thing or attribute, it does not function as a basis for self-esteem. Self-esteem is based on differentiating characteristics; that's why it's, self-esteem” (Nozick, Robert, Anarchy, State, and Utopia [New York: Basic Books, 1974], 243Google Scholar, emphasis in original).

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32 Another difficulty is empirical: if individuals are patently unable to make meaningful decisions outside a rich cultural context, how do we account for those people who not only survive but also thrive in cultural contexts not their own? Must we invoke a conception of “false consciousness” here? The explanation for why some people are able to succeed without a rich cultural heritage to which they can refer with pride must depend upon the accounts offered to us by psychologists and sociologists. But it does raise some doubts about the “universal” need for individuals to refer proudly to a clearly defined cultural heritage.

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