The equality-difference demand exposes failures in both liberal and communitarian political vocabularies

Evidence

The double demand for equality and difference appears to outrun our existing political vocabularies. Liberalism has consistently failed to come to terms with cultural difference or to deliver equality and justice for minority citizens. By contrast, communitarians argue that, since the self cannot be independent of its ends, the conceptions of “the good life” embedded in communities should take precedence over the individual. Cultural pluralists ground this idea in a very strong definition of community: “distinct cultures which embody concepts charged with historical memories and associations … which shape their understandings and approach to the world and constitute cultures of distinct and cohesive communities” (Parekh). — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 367

Categorization

• DEFINE: Lays out the three competing political vocabularies — liberal, communitarian, cultural-pluralist — that the multicultural dilemma operates within.
• XREF: Feeds directly the later Islamophobia readings on minority recognition; also connects to the liberalism-versus-multiculturalism debate structure.