Equal dialogue between cultures as the foundation of modern society: the multicultural project by Bhikhu Parekh

The article dwells upon the multicultural project of the British social theorist Bhikhu Parekh. Scientistproposes to see this multicultural project not as a political doctrine software content and not as a philosophicaltheory of man and the world, but aslife visions in the future.

It is due to the fact that nowadays almost all societiesare multicultural and it will remain so in the future. The central idea of this project–is equal dialogue of culturesas the foundation of modern society and dialogueness as a general principle of differences coexistence in themodern world (the world of cultural diversity). Author determines problem field of multiculturalism, which consistsof three ideas: the idea of people’s cultural involvement, the idea of the inevitability and desirability of culturaldiversity and intercultural dialogue, and the idea of each culture’s internal plurality.

What are the possible consequences of the suggested perspective? First of all, the rejection of the dominance of moral and politicalconcept or doctrine (liberalism, conservatism, socialism, nationalism), except for the basic democratic values.Secondly, multicultural society values diversity and promotes creative dialogue between different cultures. Itrespects the rights of its members in their culture, cultivates their right to self-criticism, self-determination andpromotes their development. Thirdly, in a multicultural society, there is only a political identity. Its foundation–isnot ethnicity or culture, but the commitment to common principles of political community.Parekh believes that the realization of this concept is a complex political task.