Creating belonging: safety, racism and social cohesion

Abstract

[Extract] In the last decade there has been much public debate about social inclusion and exclusion, multiculturalism and social cohesion. Nation-states have engaged with these debates, mainstreaming social inclusion by establishing social inclusion units as agencies of government agencies (Jeannotte 2000). The cornerstone of the democratic nation-state is the establishment of rights: political, social and civil. Membership in a nation-state denotes both civic belonging in The political community and cultural belonging in a national community (Castles and Davidson 2000). However, in ethnically and culturally diverse societies belonging and inclusion have not been unproblematic. Vasta 2007:3) points out that a number of concerns have arisen in Western societies about identity, specifically ethnic or religious identities versus a perceived homogenous national identity.