PO301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Female Genital Mutilation, Cultural Assimilation, Roy Jenkins
Document Summary
They could be non-coercive, eg merely providing incentives to change customs and practices, not actually coercing people (is this coercion probably). Need not be justified on the grounds that the dominant or majority culture is superior. Alternative grounds such as just needing a cohesive culture. Could also be targeted at "minorities within minorities" which engage in practices that involve the violation of individual rights, such as honour killings, fgm, forced marriages. Roy jenkins tried to distinguish as not a flattening process of assimilation which turns everyone out in a common mould, but as equal opportunity, accompanied by cultural diversity, in an atmosphere of tolerance. Not a particularly distinctive approach under this formulation, but is compatible with different cultural groups leading separate lives. Integration can be seen as a two way process where assimilation is a one-way process; minority cultures have to change under assimilationism where both have to change and adjust under integrationism.
