The social construction of diversity: recasting the master narrative of industrial nations

Part I: Diversity in everyday life. Assimilation and ethnic diversity in France / Ida Simon-Barouh -- Antagonistic girls, or why the foreigners are the real Germans / Nora Räthzel. Part II: Economic encounters. Transnational migration and entrepreneurship of migrants : between Turkey, Europe, and the Turkic world / Stéphane de Tapia -- "Too busy working, no time for talking": Chinese small entrepreneurs, social mobility, and the transfer of cultural identity in Belgium, Britain, and the Netherlands at the margins of multicultural discourse / Ching Lin Pang -- Transnationalism and immigrant entrepreneurship : Iranian diasporic narratives from the United States, France, England, and Germany / Minoo Moallem. Part III: Incorporating diversity in institutions and legal systems. Democratic institutional pluralism and cultural diversity / Veit Bader -- Multiculturalism, secularism, and the state / Tariq Modood -- Should national minorities/majorities share common institutions or control their own schools? A comparison of policies and debates in Quebec, Northern Ireland, and Catalonia / Marie McAndrew -- Family norms and citizenship in the Netherlands / Sarah van Salsum -- Global migranthood, whiteness, and the anxieties of (in)visibility : Italians in London / Anne-Marie Fortier. Part IV: Recasting the master narrative in society. Canada : a pluralist perspective / Danielle Juteau -- Of minority policy and (homogeneous) multiculturalism : constructing multicultural societies on a nationalist model-the post-World-War II "Western" experience / Christiane Harzig -- A state of many nations : the construction of a plural Spanish society since 1976 / Xosé-Manoel Núñez.

Though the composition of the populace of industrial nations has changed dramatically since the 1950s, public discourse and scholarship, however, often remain welded to traditional concepts of national cultures, ignoring the multicultural realities of most of today's western societies. Through detailed studies, this volume shows how the diversity affects the personal lives of individuals, how it shapes and changes private, national and international relations and to what extent institutions and legal systems are confronted with changing demands from a more culturally diverse clientele. Far from being an external factor of society, this volume shows, diversity has become an integral part of people's lives, affecting their personal, institutional, and economic interaction

THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF DIVERSITY -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- Part I. DIVERSITY IN EVERYDAY LIFE -- One. ASSIMILATION AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY IN FRANCE -- Two. ANTAGONISTIC GIRLS, OR WHY THE FOREIGNERS ARE THE REAL GERMANS -- Part II. ECONOMIC ENCOUNTERS -- Three. TRANSNATIONAL MIGRATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP OF MIGRANTS -- Four. "TOO BUSY WORKING, NO TIME FOR TALKING" -- Five. TRANSNATIONALISM AND IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEURSHIP -- Part III. INCORPORATING DIVERSITY IN INSTITUTIONS AND LEGAL SYSTEMS -- Six. DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONAL PLURALISM AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY