Research in Multicultural Societies

Abstract

In recent years there has been a dramatic rise in the number of comparative studies of groups within culturally plural nation states. There are two models which may serve as frameworks for guiding such research-the unicultural and the cross-cultural. An argument is advanced that research in plural societies requires a new model, one which draws primarily upon the cross-cultural model, reflecting an ideology of cultural pluralism, so that the independence and uniqueness of each group in the comparison may be respected. A trans. ethnic model is proposed for conducting comparative studies of ethunits in polyethnic societies. Guidelines for assessing issues of comparability, group independence, and the number of groups in the comparison and their cultural characteristics are discussed.