Early multiculturalism reified culture while ignoring structural inequality

Evidence

For much of its history, multiculturalism has been plagued by an idealistic, naive preoccupation with culture at the expense of broader material and structural concerns. If only cultural differences could be recognized, so the story went, the prospects of a harmonious multiethnic society could then (more easily) be achieved. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 894

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Early techno-utopians dismissed structural inequality as a non-issue — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 121; Mainstream multiculturalism fails to address racial inequality and division — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 646; Early multiculturalism treated culture as classless and apolitical — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 894