Rhetoric Of Multiculturalism In Germany

myth of a common descent and other criteria for what Weber refers to as an ethnic group (Weber 1920, 385; 389). This is not to erase the importance of regional differences in Germany. Rather than being comprised of many different ethnic groups, Germany was considered a conglomeration of different groups that essentially came from the same descendent. While this played into the rhetoric of Nazi Germany, one must be careful not to place this belief in common ethnic decent only on the development of National Socialism, as iterations of Germanness through group ethnicity was already present in the foundation of the Weimar Republic (Joppke 2011, 47).
However, the sort of emphasis on pure ethnic—rather racial—descendent, as signified by unified …show more content…
While Omi and Winant perhaps specifically created their racial formation theory with the United States in mind, there are many parallels to be made between multiculturalism in Germany and racial projects. It is true, that when regarding the majority of immigrants in Germany and the ethnic and racial makeup or “ethnic” Germans, the rhetoric of multiculturalism may not be a strictly racial project per say. Germany has very specific connotations of race and racism that deal directly with the killing of Jews, i.e. ethno-racial genocide. (Joppke 2011, 65). While multiculturalism is deeply rooted in public debate and seeks to interpret and rearrange the (often racialized by phenotype) groups, it does not do so in the same manner as the United States. The missing link that keeps multiculturalism in Germany from being a racial project lack of attempt to redistribute and reorganize resources along racial lines. Multiculturalism leads to a rhetoric of integration that does not speak of the economic and other resources of those needing to integrate. There are