Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2000. Graduate Programme in Political Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 284-303). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ56236.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

In the 1990's, the U.S. saw one of the largest periods of migration to its shores in its history. This surge of immigrants can be classified predominantly as Latino or Asian, which will inevitably result in demographic changes within the country. The largest proportion of immigrants claim Mexico as their country of origin, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics now represent the country's largest minority population. Given these facts, it is important to examine a body of literature that warns of the "balkanization" of America and suggests an inability of this new wave of immigrants to assimilate into American society. Previous research on attitudes towards immigrants has found both cultural and economic indicators to be important determinants of public opinion on this issue. I will expand this research by examining how the public perception of the ability of immigrants to assume an "American" identity and assimilate into society will affect attitudes towards immigrants. My primary research questions are: 1) How do different conceptions of national identity affect attitudes towards immigrants? 2) How do perceptions of the ability of immigrant groups to integrate into American society affect restrictionist views on immigration policy? 3) What group and individual-level characteristics determine differing levels of support for the dimensions of American national identity? My findings suggest that the weight attributed to three distinct dimensions of national identity conditions attitudes towards immigrants and their incorporation into American society.

Religious diversity has become a central topic in the philosophy of religion. This study proposes a methodological approach to the topic by exploring the division of tasks set out by Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984). Lonergan's methodological framework, which he called functional specialization, provides a generic differentiation of tasks, each of which is central to the overall project of understanding religious diversity. This thesis explores the relevance and utility of functional specialization as a methodological approach to religious diversity in the philosophy of religion. / The first chapter is an analysis of the literature on religious diversity as a topic in the philosophy of religion. It unearths the dominant concerns in the field and some of the obstacles which continue to hinder the development of this enquiry. The second chapter provides the epistemological grounds of functional specialization. While the division of tasks outlined by Lonergan's methodology is useful simply insofar as it differentiates the tasks of academic enquiry, there are more theoretical grounds by which this division is justified. / The third chapter provides an explanatory account of the operations and tasks involved in each of the eight functional specialties. It elucidates these specialties by drawing upon relevant analogies from outside the field of religious studies. The fourth chapter brings together the two main concerns of the study by suggesting ways in which functional specialization can make a methodological contribution to the enquiry into religious diversity. It organizes the distinct but related tasks which constitute the philosophical study of religious diversity, demonstrates the current trends regarding each of these tasks, and suggests ways in which they can be made more effective. / Lonergan's notion of functional specialization makes an important contribution to the philosophical debate over religious diversity in significant ways. It provides an effective methodology which delineates both the fundamental tasks of scholarly enquiry and the operations involved in these tasks. It explains how current work in the philosophy of religious diversity could benefit from a clear delineation of the relevant tasks. It provides a framework which is open to collaboration among scholars of diverse philosophical and theological viewpoints.

This paper will examine the policy of multiculturalism using a Marxist perspective. This will be achieved through an analysis of the policy of multiculturalism in two aspects. The first will be concerned with examining a set of objective factors, such as the social milieu in Canada and the activities of the state when the policy of multiculturalism was institutionalised. A historical approach as well as the examination of the policy of multiculturalism as a federal parliamentary act, between the years 1972 to 1987 will be undertaken. The second aspect of social policy analysis, in this paper will be concerned with the analysis of the subjective response of an ethnic community, the Ismaili community to the policy of multiculturalism. This will be achieved through a discussion and analysis of a quantitative study conducted to assess the attitude of the Ismaili community in Toronto to different aspects of the policy. Key Marxist concepts as well as Berger and Luckmann's paradigm on social constructionism will be utilised as a framework through which the analysis of the policy of multiculturalism will be conducted.

The purpose of this study was to explore the essence of diversity experiences of some undergraduates on a private, religiously-affiliated university. Sixteen undergraduates from a Midwestern private, religiously affiliated university were interviewed and described their diversity experiences. The key components of their experiences revealed five emergent themes: Types of diversity experiences, Forms of diversity experiences, Influence of previous context, Benefits of diversity experiences, and Faith issues regarding diversity experiences. These overarching themes were viewed through van Manen’s (1990) notion that phenomenological themes may be defined as the structures of experience. This examination of a progression or flow of the themes explained how the following progression or flow worked within a system of contextually related experiences to help bring about benefits of student and faith development within the participants’ educational lives. The progression began when forms of diversity experiences enabled different types of diversity experiences to take place in the undergraduates’ lives. In turn, the dynamics created within those types of diversity experiences instigated critical reflection of the participants’ previous context and previous held beliefs and values. This process of reflection/critical thinking enabled personal reassessment/transformation to take place as the benefits of diversity experiences produced life change within the undergraduates’ lives. In sum, the progression or theme flow enabled significant individual student and faith development to take place as a result of diversity experiences within the undergraduates’ educational lives. Embracing van Manen’s (1990) concept of themes defining the structure of experiences may allow the progression or flow of themes to provide the possibility for colleges/universities to chart an intentional course along that progression directed towards achieving the positive benefits that diversity experiences can bring to undergraduates’ within their educational lives. / Department of Educational Studies

Denna uppsats tar sitt avstamp i de nya svenska kursplanerna för religionskunskap som trädde i kraft år 2011. Här fick kristendomen behålla sin särställning gentemot de andra världsreligionerna trots att skolverkets förslag såg annorlunda ut. Blickar man utanför Sveriges gränser kan man se att trots att landet delar en stor del av sin utveckling med Finland och Norge finns det stora skillnader i religionsundervisningen. Uppsatsens syftar således till att jämföra de tre ländernas kursplaner i religionskunskap för grundskolan och gymnasiet med fokus på kristendomens ställning och det pluralistiska samhället. Här blir frågan om ländernas religiösa situationer (i denna uppsats går detta under benämningen religiösa kartor) central. Hur väl representerar kursplanerna det samhälle som de är tänkta att verka för? Det råder brist på komparativ forskning i olika länders religionsundervisnings och särskilt i en nordisk kontext. Kursplaner fyller ett syfte i att ge riktlinjer till undervisningen och betona vilken kunskap som är viktig att förmedla. Tidigare forskning har i ett europeiskt perspektiv visat att länder väljer olika former av religionsundervisning och här kan man se till respektive lands kulturella och historiska kontext för att förklara varför undervisningen ges på det sättet som den gör. På många punkter kan man se tydliga paralleller mellan kursplanerna och de samhällen som de ska verka för, men även där de bryter med varandra. Det finns också flera likheter mellan de tre ländernas kursplaner även om kurserna i sig är väldigt annorlunda utformade. Alla kursplaner (förutom de finländska i livsåskådningskunskap) ger en särställning till kristendomen med bland annat historiska argument, vilket utifrån ländernas pluralism kan ifrågasättas. Samtliga kursplaner betonar dock vikten av att lära sig om andra religioner och livsåskådningar. Här visas också pluralistisk medvetenhet i form av betoning på ömsesidig förståelse och tolerans. Kursplanerna har liknande mål, men olika vägar till målen. I Finland lär eleverna sig om sin egen tro för att lättare förstå andra med annan övertygelse. I Sverige och Norge lär sig eleverna om flera religioner och livsåskådningar dels för ökad tolerans, men också för att eleverna ska förstå sig själva genom att förstå andra.

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This dissertation examines the theoretical aspects of communication and coexistence among different and sometimes competing national cultures in contemporary liberal-democratic states. As its primary example, the study focuses on the quest for self-determination of Canada's indigenous peoples, but the theoretical significance of the project extends well beyond the bounds of this particular case. With this end in mind, the dissertation advances and defends a set of normative political principles which could, with certain necessary modifications, serve to guide just, equitable, and stable relations among different national cultures in a broad range of cases and contexts. The discussion opens with the development of a model of cross-cultural understanding and accommodation, which in turn is used to demonstrate the manner in which the theory and practice of liberal democracy often serves to legitimate the assertion of the authority of particular national cultures over their relatively smaller and weaker rivals. / In opposition to this more conventional liberal approach, the dissertation proposes a reformulation of the theoretical and institutional bases of liberal conceptions of national sovereignty and self-determination. This alternative approach bypasses any attempt to identify authentic or foundational liberal values which must frame and govern the principle of national self-determination, and which assert their categorical primacy over competing normative ideals and traditions. This approach to self-determination balances, on the one hand, the importance of more localized national ends, ideals, and institutions with a concern, on the other, for universal standards of democratic conduct, responsibility, and governance. What results is not a grand theory of national self-determination, but rather a set of flexible principles which can be attuned to different cultural contexts and circumstances, and which are subject to the democratic consent of the nations or peoples concerned.

Several recent works have emphasised contemporary hierarchical trends within international society. These trends have been most readily demonstrated by the willingness of dominant states, such as the United States, to conduct interventions in support of the promotion of liberal values and political institutions. Yet while many scholars have identified new relations of hierarchy within international society, few have explored what they suggest regarding international society’s normative constitution or what factors have given rise to these new hierarchies. The end of colonialism in the 1960’s resulted in a fundamental reconstitution of international society. The result of decolonisation was that pluralism, the notion that all states have the equal freedom to constitute their internal socio-political and economic institutions as they see fit, was entrenched as the central constitutive principle of the post-colonial international society. Contemporary hierarchical trends suggest a transition away from this pluralist constitution, with resultant changes in the processes of inclusion and exclusion and modes of interaction between different members of international society. This thesis aims to explore these processes of reconstitution within international society in the post-Cold War era and explain why Western societies have felt compelled to intervene in particular territories in order to promote liberal values. Utilising sociological theories of risk, particularly the work of Ulrich Beck, this thesis suggests that a new ‘liberal social logic of risk’ underpins the emergence of new forms of hierarchy and contemporary constitutional transition within international society. New forms of temporally and spatially de-bounded security risks (such as terrorism), and Western attempts at managing these risks through intervention and the imposition of liberal values in so-called ‘risky zones’, has altered the constitution of international society in a way that gives rise to various hierarchical and anti-pluralist trends.