Assimilationism refuses alterity while agonistic democracy embraces continuous contest.

Evidence

As he goes on to argue later, the assimilationist model ultimately works on the basis of a solipsist form of narcissism in which alterity can never be fully recognized or accepted, whereas Stuart draws implicitly on the kind of model of democracy as a necessarily agonistic process of continuous debate (“a big, staged, continuous row”). — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 904

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines assimilationism via solipsistic narcissism and contrasts it with an agonistic model of democracy — both are transferable concepts for the Islamophobia toolkit.
• XREF: The agonistic democracy model echoes Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic pluralism; the narcissism-of-assimilation critique connects to Melancholy of Race and postcolonial melancholia concepts. — connects to: Democracy’s task is converting antagonism into agonism, not erasing it — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 584