From Culturalism to Citizenship

This article places the immigrants’ integration issue within the culture-citizenship debate. In order to understand culture as something else than people’s given customs or “essence”, the text begins by analysing the essentialist notion of the term ‘culture’, pointing out some of its deficiencies and risks involved in dealing with such a notion. Drawing on the ethical relativism-universalism continuum, the authors also discuss the drawbacks they see in a culture-centred integration, suggesting instead a citizenship approach based on a multidirectional and dynamic notion –aimed at achieving equal rights for everyone involved, immigrant and native populations alike