or is really addressing only a component of the multicultural concept and not the general notion at all.
According to McKenzie (1997, p. 2-3), the descriptive or demographic element of multiculturalism consists of those definitions formulated which assert that multiculturalism is merely an attribute of society, describing the fact that in a given society, there are people from different and diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Such a definition can be found in the discourse of Johnson and Newitz (2004) who state that:
Multiculturalism is a term which came into usage after the idea of a "melting pot" was criticized by minorities as both assimilationist and white-dominated. The social idea of a multiplicity of racial and ethnic identities, unique yet also hybrizing [sic], greatly influenced artistic and intellectual production after the war. It is associated with identity politics and aesthetic productions generated after, and inspired by, civil rights movements of the 1950s and 60s. For our purposes here, a multiculturalist is any person of color, white ethnic, or biracial person whose work is largely oriented around issues of race and/or ethnicity. (p. 1)
In the foregoing definition of multiculturalism, it is sufficient to merely describe a society that has different races and or ethnicities. A focus on this fact is, in turn, sufficient to be labeled ô a multiculturalist.ö
The second category of definition for the term ômulticulturalismö is prescriptive multiculturalism. According to McKenzie (1997, p. 3), prescriptive multiculturalism also roots itself in the idea that multiculturalism refers to a society in which there are people from different backgrounds, racial, ethnic, cultural, and so forth; however, it adds an element which is that such a society is really the ideal society, and is, therefore, a goal or objective toward which a society should strive. An example of this definitional component of the term mu...