Między wielokulturowością a kulturą wiodącą. Niemieckie debaty wokół imigracji
Between Multiculturalism and the Leading Culture. German Debates on Immigration

Summary/Abstract: The object of the study was an analysis of the German debates on immigration policy. Their subsequent stages were strongly politicized and focused on various groups of migrants. The particular stages were differentiated by watchwords that defined the axis of the debate and at the same time highlighted German expectations and fears connected with the settlement of large groups of foreigners on German territory. The initial watchword was ‘‘multiculturalism”, then ‘‘parallel societies” and next ‘‘leading culture”. The last, so far, stage of the discussion is a heated debate triggered by a book by Theo Sarrazin published in 2012 and centres on the concept of ‘‘integration”. All the above mentioned notions are rather vague, lacking in precision, which made it easy to manipulate and abuse them. In consequence, the balance of the debate is by no means optimistic and in fact it is essentially antimodernist and destructive. Its subsequent stages are mostly concerned with potential dangers and this gives the impression that foreigners (or their large groups) are actually a threat to Germany and its culture. Such an attitude is closer to Huntington’s ‘‘clash of civilizations” than to the European enlightenment thought and contributes to enhancing hostile sentiments towards ‘‘aliens”. This might lead not only to their discrimination or exclusion but also to a growth of violence against immigrants.

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