Accommodating Diversity: National Policies that Prevent Ethnic Conflict

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.