The Opportunities and Challenges Posed by Cultural Difference in Germany
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2018 Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh
Responsible: Dr. Ulrike Spohn
Translation: Barbara Serfozo
Copy editor: Josh Ward
Production editor: Christiane Raffel
Cover design: Elisabeth Menke
Cover illustration: Jordis Schlösser, OSTKREUZ – Agentur der Fotografen GmbH, Berlin
Typesetting and Printing: Hans Kock Buch- und Offsetdruck GmbH, Bielefeld
ISBN 978-3-86793-845-7 (print)
ISBN 978-3-86793-846-4 (e-book PDF)
ISBN 978-3-86793-847-1 (e-book EPUB)
www.bertelsmann-stiftung.org/publications
Foreword
Cultural Difference in Germany: Living Together in Diversity
Ulrike Spohn, Kai Unzicker, Stephan Vopel
I. Approaches to Cultural Diversity in Germany
Regulating Cultural Diversity in Germany
Michael Wrase
Faceless and Voiceless: Why Cultural Difference Is Underrepresented in the German Media
Friederike Herrmann
Us and Them: A Sociological Attempt to Understand Germany’s “Leitkultur” Debate
Armin Nassehi
Diversity without Discrimination: The Example of Religious Coexistence
Volker M. Heins
Cultural Diversity as a Societal Concept and Political Practice? The Concept of Nation and “Volksgemeinschaft” in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Thomas Großbölting
II. International Perspectives
Approaches to Cultural Diversity: A Comparison of North American and European Sociopolitical Paradigms
Oliver Schmidtke
The Continuing Relevance of a Concept of Multiculturalism
Tariq Modood
III. Cities as Diversity Laboratories
The City as a Laboratory for Diversity and Inclusion: Challenges and Opportunities
Doug Saunders
Migration and Diversity on a City Level: How Does Mechelen Make a Difference in an Age of Populism and Radicalization?
Bart Somers
The Authors
Cultural diversity is today an issue of vital concern well beyond Germany. Everywhere in the world, people are wrestling with the issue of what a suitable approach to diversity – particularly of different nationalities, cultures and religions – might look like, and how it should be shaped. Populist parties and movements are thriving in many countries, and the future of peaceful coexistence depends critically on finding good solutions for our approach to this diversity. The fact is that, in most countries, such diversity is today simply a reality.
The Reinhard Mohn Prize 2018 addresses this task under the title, “Living Diversity – Shaping Society.” It offers suggestions on how we can live in peace and freedom in our society under conditions of diversity. Yet, in order to find good solutions, it is important to better understand both the challenges and the opportunities that go along with diversity. Only in this way can we develop sustainable prospects for shaping society. A crucial requirement in this regard is and remains that people are given the opportunity to lead a self-determined, meaningful life through education and employment. This includes an important principle: We must once again learn to share – including to share knowledge!
The contributions to this volume offer a comprehensive analysis of the approach to cultural diversity being taken in Germany, and highlight ways in which we can prove more effective in meeting this challenge in the future. How do we currently address cultural diversity in this country? How does it manifest in the law, in the media, and in education? What form of approach is taken in other countries? But, above all, how can we succeed in shaping a respectful life together in diversity? Experts offer answers to these questions while also introducing international cross-country comparative perspectives. For the Reinhard Mohn Prize, with its motto of “Learning from the world,” this is of paramount importance.
The recommendations offered here are the combined result of the expert contributions collected in this book and the findings from our international research into best practices conducted jointly with Prognos AG. They focus on cities as the key locations in which diversity is concretely lived and shaped. To be sure, activity at the city level is always necessarily embedded in and constrained by broader conditions; yet there is nevertheless significant room to shape diversity actively at the local level. Above all, cities are sites of encounter: In the neighborhood, at the workplace, in the school or kindergarten, at the football club, at the music school or the youth center, people with different cultural backgrounds, religions and lifestyles come together.
New technologies, and particularly social media, have changed the way we communicate and work. Using them is important today and will remain so in the future. However, one thing remains critical in order to live together successfully in diversity: the face-to-face encounter! Every day, this offers the opportunity to meet and engage in exchange and dialogue, even across cultural differences, on the basis of the things we hold in common – as neighbors, parents, or sports or music fans. Cultural diversity is today an element of our everyday lives, and we are all challenged to shape the way we live along with our fellow human beings. If this is to succeed, it is important that we always see the human in the people we meet – not simply the “foreigner” – encountering one another with openness, empathy and respect.
All this improves our ability to enter into dialogue, even across supposed differences. In this way, we can succeed in making our world more just, more peaceful and more human, and thus better overall. This begins with small steps – in our cities and in our neighborhoods. It thus begins with each and every one of us. My motto, drawn from my experiences in life, is the following: First you get to know each other; from this grows respect and affection; and, finally, friendships emerge.
Liz Mohn
Vice-chair of the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Executive Board
In historical terms, cultural diversity has always been a reality in Germany, where the question of dealing with a plurality of cultures in society has repeatedly been subject to renewed debate. Indeed, Jews, for example, have inhabited the area we now refer to as Germany long before Christianity spread throughout the European continent. Following the Reformation and the resulting split in Western Christianity, the differences between Protestants and Catholics in early modern Europe were viewed as defining a key cultural distinction that proved divisive even into the 20th century. With the rise of nationalism, the diversity of ethnic groups living side by side – a fact of life for centuries – increasingly came under scrutiny as an issue involving questions of how to deal with cultural “others.” As a result, Sinti and Roma, Danes, Frisians and Sorbs living on what had become German territory were defined as national minorities. In particular, Jews as well as Sinti and Roma were repeatedly subjected to prejudice, vilification and persecution. The genocide of the Third Reich in the 20th century marks the nadir of these developments.
In the years following World War II, the young Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic faced the formidable task of integrating nearly 14 million people from the eastern provinces of the former German Reich and other areas throughout East and Southeast Europe who had been forced to migrate. In East Germany, these displaced persons temporarily made up one-fourth of the population. In the 1950s and 1960s, inflows into West Germany of so-called guest workers from Southern Europe, Turkey and North Africa contributed even further to the ongoing ethnic and religious pluralization of society in the Federal Republic. Though to a lesser extent, East Germany also recruited foreign labor, mainly from Vietnam, Poland and Mozambique. This kind of labor-driven migration was, however, nothing new for Germany, which had a tradition of recruiting foreign labor to compensate for labor shortages, such as the “Ruhr Poles” in the 19th century. Following the fall of the Eastern Bloc in the 1980s and 1990s, ethnic Germans from several former Soviet states (“Aussiedler” and “Spätaussiedler”) began seeking repatriation in Germany, and hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflicts in the former Yugoslavia sought refuge in Germany. Whether driven by crisis, war or economics, the current influx of migrants must be seen in the context of globalization processes as marking yet another episode in the long history of diversity in Germany.
The Reinhard Mohn Prize 2018 draws on a concept of cultural diversity that involves the dimensions of origin, religion and language. This concept is distinct from that employed by, for example, diversity management efforts in the business world, where diversity also includes the dimensions of gender, age, sexual orientation and disability. In the context of this year’s Reinhard Mohn Prize, emphasis is deliberately placed on the former three dimensions of diversity because they are the dimensions that are currently informing public debate in Germany and are perceived as posing a challenge to how we live together in German society. The different cultural traditions, religions and languages that go hand in hand with diverse ways of life can prove a difficult process for a society as it is faced with change. Clearly, this presents challenges that have fueled tensions in German society in particular, though it is certainly not alone on that count. At the same time, cultural diversity might also be recognized for the opportunities it offers in terms of its capacity to foster societal development and innovation. Making cultural diversity a marker of societal strength involves the active participation of all stakeholders.
Reinhard Mohn recognized early on the importance of cultural diversity for the future of society. Indeed, the question of ensuring social cohesion in the face of cultural differences and diverging historical experiences within German society took on a particular urgency in the early 1990s after the fall of the Berlin Wall. German re-unification demanded that a path be forged for all Germans to bring together what was once divided and thereby form a single society. At the same time, German society was faced with a large number of asylum applicants from the Balkan conflict. During this period of social upheaval, xenophobic sentiments in Germany ran high, culminating in 1992 in a series of racist riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen.
In the same year, the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Carl Bertelsmann Prize focused on the challenges associated with immigration policy, awarding Sweden the prize in recognition of its success with integration. Having acknowledged that most of the country’s recently arrived migrants were there to stay, the Swedish government pursued an integration strategy that accepted and embraced this fact. Sweden thus defined itself early on as a country of immigration and began emphasizing cultural identity rights, social inclusion and political participation as objectives.
Underscoring the need to anchor pluralism in the rule of law, Reinhard Mohn stated, “The peaceful coexistence of different cultures and peoples in one state requires a durable cultural pluralism that is secured through constitutional safeguards.” Indeed, a free state must be able to ensure that a variety of cultures find expression in social life. As he saw it, “Culture is an essential source of support in people’s lives.” In other words, the cultural traditions, religion and language in which we are embedded provide the frameworks from which we draw meaning regarding our place in the world. Being able to live out and practice our cultural identity is therefore only a given.
As noted, German society has repeatedly addressed the issue of cultural diversity over time. Yet in each case, as the societal context changes, a different set of challenges are confronted. In recent decades, Germany has taken several major steps forward in terms of its approach to cultural diversity. Since the early 2000s, citizenship laws have been reformed to allow for dual citizenship, in part by doing away with a requirement (“Optionspflicht”) in 2014 compelling children of migrant parents residing in Germany to choose either their parents’ or German citizenship at the age of 18. Recent studies (e.g., Bertelsmann Stiftung 2018a) also show that the German public has become increasingly more tolerant and open since the 1980s.
The current rise in right-wing populist movements and political parties can be attributed in large part to the fact that the trend toward greater tolerance has nonetheless bypassed a significant share of the German population. We are witnessing a growing polarization between those who increasingly embrace diversity and those who persistently reject engaging with the reality of diversity in society. At the same time, Germany’s geopolitical location in the middle of Europe is increasingly subject to cultural nativism, as the examples of Brexit, Hungary and Poland demonstrate. To be sure, however, cultural nativism extends beyond Europe and into the United States under President Donald Trump. Each of these developments poses a threat to the capacity of diverse peoples to live together in peace, freedom and prosperity.
Germany’s challenge for 2018 lies in forging a way forward – despite resistance at home and an unfavorable geopolitical environment. Germany must not only secure, but also build on the gains made in dealing with cultural diversity. It must find a way to deepen the values of a free and democratic society that reflects the diversity of society. And it must achieve these things without polarizing society any further. In order to succeed on this path, Germany must provide everyone in society the opportunity to engage with diversity as well as to help shape the ways in which diversity is lived and experienced. The Reinhard Mohn Prize 2018 thus aims to inspire while providing a fresh perspective on approaches for Germany in this regard. To be sure, German legislation and national policy play a vital role here. Equally important, however, are developments at the local level of social organization – that is, in neighborhoods, communities and cities – where coexistence and the day-to-day experience with diversity are a natural part of lived societal practices.
The aim of this book is to provide a deeper understanding of approaches to cultural diversity in Germany while supplying guidance on how to move ahead. This involves providing a thorough description and analysis of the current state of affairs in Germany. In line with the Reinhard Mohn Prize motto of “learning from the world,” however, we have looked to other countries for solutions with impact. How can we make living with diversity a success in practice? Answering this question involves taking a closer look at cities as environments where the density of cultural diversity is highest and the opportunities for positive experiences are inherent to daily life.
Questions regarding approaches to cultural diversity in Germany can be applied to a variety of areas – from policymaking to the law, the world of business, our education system and the media. Legal approaches to these issues are particularly important because they create binding frameworks that determine how other areas of society handle diversity. In his contribution describing Germany’s current legal codes and approach to diversity, Michael Wrase explores the long-running controversies over headscarves among educators in schools and ritual circumcision for boys. Living well together, as the author argues, requires that Germany’s legal order recognize the cultural diversity of German society. Education, in particular, is an area in need of immediate attention.
While the law is concerned with ensuring respect for constitutional principles and fundamental rights in societal practice, the media play an equally important role as a public forum in modern society. As such, the media provide a formative arena in which public debates over how to approach diversity in society and through policy can be carried out. This is where knowledge is created, interpretations are formed, and narrative arcs are developed that demand recognition and legitimacy. These are questions of societal identity: Who is part of Germany? What does it mean to be German? How much cultural heterogeneity can social cohesion withstand? How Germany defines itself is shaped not only by these debates, but also by the way in which people and the experiences of diversity are framed by media reporting. As Friederike Herrmann demonstrates, media coverage in Germany depicts far too often a specific form of cultural diversity that is not genuinely representative of the spectrum of lived realities. Drawing on the examples of the headscarf debate and current controversies regarding refugees, she exposes the inadequacies of contemporary media coverage for a diverse German society.
In his contribution, Armin Nassehi explores the factors explaining why identity attracts so much attention in the German debate about cultural diversity. Conventions, regulations and institutions – particularly in labor markets, housing and education systems – must be rethought and adapted to reflect diversity in a society. There are several opportunities here to negotiate the challenges and opportunities inherent to diversity while developing practical solutions for everyone involved. Yet, in Germany, diversity is treated almost exclusively as an issue of cultural identity in terms of a “Leitkultur” (guiding culture). Rather than taking a pragmatic, solution-oriented approach to issues of cultural difference, the tendency in Germany is to stylize cultural differences and treat them as identity-related conflicts. Aiming to better understand the specifically narrow nature of this debate in Germany, Nassehi examines it through the lens of historical sociology.
Established patterns of perception and discourse regarding diversity frame and thereby systematically affect the opportunities of access and participation available to those individuals in society who are marked as “culturally different.” In his contribution, Volker Heins demonstrates how derogatory views and prejudices foster discrimination as well as how this limits social inclusion for those who belong to minority religious groups in Germany. He looks in particular at the experiences of Muslims and Sikhs in Germany, the latter of whom have thus far received little attention.
The prevailing attitudes and discourses regarding diversity in Germany – in addition to the policies that derive from them – are not a matter of happenstance. They each have a long tradition that can be explained by taking a closer look at their origins and the historical contexts from which they emerged. Thomas Großbölting explores the historical roots of the skepticism expressed toward diversity in Germany. He shows how the ideal of a culturally homogenous society, which emerged during the 19th century along with the rise of the nation-state, survived the dictatorships of the 20th century and continues to influence political debates in the 21st century.
The second section of this publication looks at the issue of diversity from an international perspective. Here, we see that Germany is not alone in struggling with its approach to diversity. Other European countries are also grappling with the need to acknowledge diversity as a natural feature of modern society. Since the birth of the nation-state, continental European societies have traditionally tended to emphasize homogeneity and unity. Comparing this to the experience with diversity in Anglo-Saxon cultures, which – despite the current and historical tradition of nativism in U.S. politics – generally feature a stronger tradition of pluralism, can prove fruitful. Culturally diverse identities are for the most part embraced as part of daily life in Anglo-Saxon countries. Oliver Schmidtke chronicles these paradigms as they are invoked in Germany and France, on the one hand, and in Canada and the United States, on the other. By juxtaposing them with each other, he highlights the concepts underlying each paradigm as well as the political and historical developments that have shaped them.
The contribution provided by Tariq Modood represents a point of view from the United Kingdom. He presents an argument in favor of the concept of “multiculturalism,” which has fallen into disfavor in Germany as a taboo term. Modood suggests that the concept, as a forward-looking political option for culturally diverse societies, has been misunderstood by many and provides the basis for social inclusion in diverse societies. He closes his contribution by comparing approaches to diversity in Germany with those observed in the United Kingdom, identifying problems in Germany regarding attitudes toward diversity and the visibility of diversity in the public realm.
The last section of this publication focuses on measures and approaches to managing diversity in urban environments. People from a broad range of cultures interact daily in their local neighborhoods, in schools, at work and during their leisure activities. Given their higher density of cultural diversity, cities and municipal districts are particularly important locations of intercultural interaction. Cities are faced with the challenge of living in diversity in practical terms on a daily basis. And although they must harmonize their measures with state and federal policies and legislation, as “diversity laboratories,” cities exercise certain freedoms when it comes to developing pragmatic and innovative solutions.
Until recently, the demands placed on a society by cultural diversity had been viewed as an issue drawing resources away from already-burdened municipal coffers. For many cities, embracing diversity and treating it as an integral aspect of municipal policymaking has been perceived as a “nice to have” luxury available only to those municipalities with a robust budget surplus. For Doug Saunders, integrating diversity into all aspects of municipal policymaking is essential to creating socially, economically and culturally sustainable cities. He therefore argues in his contribution that cities which target social inclusion for all residents by taking diversity issues into account in education, civic, infrastructure, housing and urban-planning investment yield not only fiscal benefits, but also improved social relationships.
The mayor of the Belgium city of Mechelen, Bart Somers, offers his firsthand insights into developments that have resulted from the city’s strategic investment in diversity. The recipient of the 2016 World Mayor’s Prize describes Mechelen’s dramatic transformation from a city plagued by high crime rates, a stagnating economy and middle-class flight to become a cherished urban environment with a flourishing economy and vibrant cultural life. Cornerstones of the city’s strategy include promoting intercultural interactions in daily life while ensuring the safety and inclusion of all residents as active members of society.
By casting a broad analytic net in exploring the various views on and areas of diversity, we have identified several approaches to shaping successful experiences in the daily interaction with diversity that are worth highlighting. The contributions in this publication, combined with the findings of our international good practices survey conducted as part of the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2018, form the basis of this body of research that focuses on cities as locations where diverse ethnocultural and religious communities can live together in the pursuit of social cohesion (Bertelsmann Stiftung 2018b).
The preconditions for functioning diversity can be divided into four dimensions: social inclusion, political participation, sense of belonging and interaction. Each of these dimensions underpins the normative concept of community in which all citizens exercise equal rights and freedoms in determining this body politic. The promise of a liberal democracy can only be fulfilled when everyone – regardless of their cultural identity – has equal access to opportunity (social inclusion), finds their interests represented in politics (political participation), feels connected to the social and cultural environment as a stakeholder (sense of belonging), and engages with others in society on a regular basis (interaction).
These dimensions help us better target the conditions that underpin functioning diversity in a liberal democracy. Making them a reality involves developing and implementing specific strategies and measures. Certain measures are designed for implementation at the national level, while others are more appropriate for the local level of administration. Within the German context, the elements of a pluralist liberal society are embedded in the normative legal framework of the Basic Law, as its constitution is known. As the defining legal document of German society, the Basic Law provides for the inviolability of human dignity (art. 1), rights to personal freedom (art. 2), equality before the law and the right to non-discrimination (art. 3), and the freedom of faith and conscience (art. 4). In addition, the Basic Law also addresses issues regarding religious practice by clarifying the relationship between religion and the state (art. 140), and providing for religious instruction in public shools (art. 7). All German laws and legislation must be designed to ensure the effective exercise of basic rights.
Though a prerequisite, providing a legal framework for a liberal state order is not enough when it comes to ensuring that different cultures thrive together in a context of successful diversity. Functioning diversity requires all members of society to demonstrate and cultivate attitudes and practices of openness and respect in their daily interactions with each other.
Individual cities, rather than states, are taking the lead in this respect. As less complex administrative units, cities offer policymakers fertile ground for testing new strategies and approaches to cultivating functioning diversity. Cities can serve as catalysts for change by cultivating mentalities and practices that can trigger broader developments at the regional and national levels. The following ten recommendations are therefore designed for local contexts in urban environments. They draw upon the findings outlined in this publication and the results of the international research on good practices conducted as part of the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2018 (Bertelsmann Stiftung 2018b).
1.Make a clear commitment to demonstrating respect for diversity
Cities need to show clear commitment to demonstrating respect for diversity in urban society. They should seize the opportunity to highlight respect for diversity as part of their brand while strengthening the sense of local identity and community. This commitment can be demonstrated through awards, campaigns, posters and festivals. City governments can also send out a positive message of inclusion by using social media channels or their internet sites to post well-wishes and greetings to various religious communities on important religious holidays.
2.Demonstrate diversity leadership
Cities need admired and respected leaders who act as strong advocates of functioning diversity. Local politicians and mayors, in particular, play a key role here. The stance taken by such leaders sends strong signals to the public. By acting credibly in taking a pro-diversity stance, local politicians foster trust as they set an example for other people and institutions to follow. This begins with municipal administration institutions, which play an important role in demonstrating leadership as both employers and consumers of services. In order to set a good example, these offices should implement hiring practices that are designed to ensure that their staffs reflect the diversity of the city’s residents. Knowledge of foreign languages and cultures should be treated as a desired skill. Similarly, public bids and tenders can be used – within the limits of their mandate – to promote interculturality in the public sector.
3.Use strong role models
In addition to political champions who advocate for diversity, we need public role models who embody the sheer normality of living in diversity. These role models can be teachers, youth workers, police officers, football trainers, leaders in theater and other everyday “heroes” of civil society who inspire others to act with courage and respect, thereby building trust in a diverse society. The sustainability of living together in cultural diversity demands broad-based on-boarding and the institutionalization of diversity in various fields of action.
4.Target strategic coordination and networking
Diversity should be addressed by all areas of civic policymaking and never be treated in isolation. This kind of vertical and horizontal integration into municipal administration requires coordination and networking across individual administrative units and between the city and those who provide services on the ground. Strategic and coordinated teamwork in areas such as youth work, schools and preschools, neighborhood economic development, housing, security and so on creates the foundation for effective cooperation in which everyone is a stakeholder with a shared objective. It makes sense to establish a coordination headquarters within the city administration that is tasked with developing concrete, measurable objectives and measures that involve everyone, assigning responsibilities and ensuring transparency in marking the successes and failures observed in the implementation of urban diversity strategies. Cities should also share their experiences with intercultural strategies and measures to promote stronger networking.
5.Embrace cultural differences
Different traditions and religions feature different everyday habits, rituals and activities. To cultivate a sense of belonging and inclusion among all residents, cities should promote the active recognition of cultural differences within the framework of our prevailing legal order. This can involve, for example, allowing civil servants to wear a headdress that represents an aspect of their cultural identity or accommodating for a variety of burial rituals in urban cemeteries. At the same time, cities must emphasize the commonalities across its residents in order to promote a sense of shared identity and community.
6.Create public spaces for interaction
Cities should create both physical and figurative spaces that encourage interaction and dialogue across groups. Creating public spaces, such as youth centers or parks, that reflect the varied interests and needs of a community involve participatory urban-planning processes. Neighborhood centers, local libraries and sports facilities are ideal locations for bringing together residents of all types. Professional