The Implications of Parekh's Cultural Pluralism

Abstract

This paper assesses the special difficulties faced by a liberal democratic system which seeks to maintain its democratic credentials when governing a culturally diverse society. The argument focuses upon the analysis of cultural pluralism developed in two recent pieces of Bhikhu Parekh. After clarifying the nature of Parekh's culturally pluralistic society, the cultural specificity of liberal democracy is examined Finally, Parekh's attempt to reconcile the two through ‘operative public values’ is shown to be inadequate in such a manner that the ability of a liberal democratic system to ever bring lasting well‐being in a situation of cultural diversity is thrown into doubt.

Without Blinders: Public Values Scholarship in Political Science, Economics, and Law—Content and Contribution to Public Administration

“…In addition, Seglow (1997) and Tyler (1996) reinforce the thought that OPVs ignore the possibility of values changing over time for reasons other than people belonging to culturally pluralistic societies (De Tombe, 2001;Tyler, 1998). While they propose that cultural pluralism cannot be sacrificed for the tenets of liberal democracy, Tyler (1998) reasons that liberal WITHOUT BLINDERS democracies could be reformed to accommodate the legitimate demands of diverse groups, and the notion of OPVs is inadequate and contradictory in this context.…”

“…Most of these values are termed "operative public values" or OPVs (Tyler, 1996), as they attempt to provide a framework for political self-expression to those cultures which embody the tenets of a liberal democratic society.…”

“…Tyler (1996) suggests that his suggestion for overcoming these problems by adopting OPVs is inadequate. He argues that while a pluralist society expects its people to live authentic lives, they are also expected to deeply value the framework that provides them with this identity.…”

“…In some studies, the unit of analysis is the individual (Dillman & Christenson, 1974;Papamichail & Robertson, 2003), and this brings out the apparent tension in balancing cultural relativism and the reasoned aggregation of values in a liberal democracy (Tyler, 1996). Others focus on the role of the public official and administrative institutions in incorporating public opinions in policy decisions (Barrett, 1995;Fischhoff & Baruch, 1996).…”

Cultural Authenticity and Liberal Democracy: A Reply to Colin Tyler

“…One way to show that two things cannot coexist is to de®ne them so that are contradictory. In his interesting, provocative, but, I shall argue here, mistaken critique of Bhikhu Parekh's work on cultural minorities and democracy, Colin Tyler argues not all cultural groups can show a commitment to liberal democracy (with the implication that we must sacri®ce the former to the latter) (Parekh, 1993(Parekh, , 1994Tyler, 1996). Parekh treats the value of cultural authenticity more seriously than many liberals, and like him, and unlike Tyler, I hope that some negotiated settlement might be found between liberal democracy and those who do value their culture.…”