Multicultural Intensity: The Case of Jewish and Arab Students

This paper introduces a new methodology for measuring multicultural levels/intensity based on a study on attitudes towards multiculturalism conducted among college students in Israel. We developed an innovative methodological tool, “multicultural intensity,” that is composed of 8 different scales: the presence of two nationalities and cultures in the college; social friendships between Arabs and Jews on campus; studying in joint classes; ways of providing assistance to students for whom Hebrew is not their mother tongue; legitimization to deal with political and social topics within the academy; classroom curriculum; multicultural tools; reality and political views toward the Arab minority in Israel. We found that Arab and Druze groups manifested more support for multicultural policies than Jewish groups. The paper suggests that “multicultural intensity” will enable researchers and practitioners to collect knowledge as to the success/failure of multicultural policies and programs among various audiences and subsequently could improve their implementation. 1. Multiculturalism: Theoretical Framework Multiculturalism can be used as a mainly declarative term or as a meaningful concept that legitimizes diversity and creates social equality. The concept of multiculturalism is derived from the unsuitability of earlier ethnic concepts, namely, assimilation and the melting pot, which meant mono-culturalism, and from liberal ideas about organizing the relations between the individuals and the state in a way that would defend the minorities’ citizen’s rights and civil rights [1–3]. Kymilicka [4, 5] characterizes liberal multiculturalism as concerned with the importance of culture for individual autonomy and recognizing ethnic and cultural diversity in a society. Taylor [6] adds the concept of recognition as an important ingredient of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism implies recognition of ethnicity as a legitimate way of grouping in the nation state. However, “legitimacy is restricted to the status of subgroups, subculture, subinstitute, and sub-system inside and under the control of the sovereign state” [7]. Legitimization and recognition do not mean equality. The concept of multiculturalism is caught between the liberal notion of full recognition of the ethnic group’s rights [8] and the modern state’s need for a robust common culture to create one unique nation [9]. Multiculturalism implies personal and group rights. Sometimes they may contradict each other [10, 11], but not necessarily. Failure to create a multicultural state based on equality may mean that