The problem with multiculturalism

Sunday, 22nd June 2008

Or, at least, with a particular strain of multiculturalism. Kenan Malik's book on race, science and politics gets a positive review from the FT:

Malik opens with the infamous claim by James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA, that Africans have lower intelligence than “us”. His debunking of this claim is withering: neither the idea of an African race, nor that of fixed intelligence quotients, stands up to scientific scrutiny.
Race is not a biological concept, Malik argues, but a social one. The latest research shows that only a tiny percentage of genetic variation corresponds to differences between what we usually call “races”... In other words, if all mankind were wiped out bar one small tribe, virtually all human genetic variation would still exist... So why, if the notion is so discredited, do we still think in racial terms? Because of the cult of multiculturalism, claims Malik.
...It is fashionably risqué in intellectual circles to criticise the movement, and some of the criticism has veered dangerously close to xenophobia. Not so with Malik... And underpinning his lucid and important book is a fundamental belief in universal human dignity.