Accommodating Diversity
National Policies That Prevent Ethnic Conflict

Accommodating Diversity mines the world's most troubling incidences of racial and ethnic conflict in order to find national policies that defuse the strains of cohabitation and encourage true reconciliation.

Part social policy analysis and part intellectual autobiography, Accommodating Diversity mines the world's most troubling incidences of racial and ethnic conflict in order to find national policies that defuse the strains of cohabitation and encourage true reconciliation. Debunking the notion that conflict is inevitable when dominant and minority communities cohabit, Irwin Deutscher looks at five successful policies, from Swedish legislation dealing with immigrant education to the Chieftaincy act in Ghana, as he examines the possibilities for successful and harmonious intergroup relations. Deutscher concludes that the pursuit of a benign pluralist policy leads ultimately to assimilation, providing a political solution which satisfies the champions of both diversity and unity. With its problem solving focus, study questions, and introductory essays to each section that place the material within sociological theory, this book is an ideal supplement for courses in race, ethnicity, and social problems.

Part 1 The Problem Chapter 2 The Beginning: Abe Lincoln in India and a Pair of Hungarians in Ottawa Chapter 3 Democracy and Its Downside Chapter 4 The Invention of Race and Ethnicity and Its Many Consequences Chapter 5 Identities: Ethnic and Otherwise Chapter 6 Ethnic Renewal: Italian-Americans, Bosnian Muslims, and Native Americans Chapter 7 Reporters for the Daily Press: A Woldwide Network of Research Assistants Part 8 Toward Solutions: From Time to Time and Place to Place Chapter 9 Backdrop and Precursors Chapter 10 The Enclave Solution in Switzerland and Ghana Chapter 11 The Immigrant Solution in Sweden, Canada, and Australia Chapter 12 Sojourner Finns, Israelis, and Greeks and Also the Unfashionable Solution of Partition (India, No! Czechoslovakia, Yes!) Chapter 13 Leave Vengeance to the Lord: One Tough But Grand Solution Part 14 Over the Horizon Chapter 15 Beyond National Policies Chapter 16 Assimilation and Pluralism: An Outmoded Distinction? Chapter 17 The End: Values, Politics, and Assimilation