The limits of autonomy of cultural codes in modern European societies: ethnicity, education and culture

Abstract

  In this article the author discusses the educational dilemmas in contemporary Europe, and especially in countries with considerable migrant populations. He argues that it is not only culture, language or religion that matters, but also and may be primarily, ethnicity. In this way the association of cultural diversity with ethnic difference is of paramount importance in order to understand educational reality in contemporary European educational systems, including Greece and Cyprus. Multiculturalism in education is critically examined in this article as a possible viable solution to the challenges of social cohesion and economic stability faced by modern societies in a context of global economic, political and cultural influence.
  He concludes that multiculturalism as coexistence of parallel societies within a state, without common cultural and political codes and social projects is far from being an  educational goal for modern societies. In this sense the real dilemma is not multiculturalism, but the possibility of cultural variety within a frame of common cultural, political and economic codes defining the public and private sphere of a society.