Abstract

This article examines multiculturalism, focusing on the so-called ethnocultural groups which are often ethnic and national cultural groups or intergenerational communities that have some shared practices and history that members believe are constitutive of the group. It explains that liberalist multiculturalists tend to view respect for cultural groups in instrumental terms while non-liberals often argue that cultures deserve respect because they are intrinsically valuable. It suggests that the non-liberal respect argument and the identity argument avoids some ambiguities involved in liberal multiculturalism since they do not argue for group-differentiated rights because of autonomy or self-respect.