The Dilemma Of Cultural Membership Identity

In the context of the multi-ethnic countries and multiculturalism, the traditional liberal theory is threatened by other theories, especially the communitarianism. Will·Kymlicka uses a concept of cultural membership, while he argue for liberalism, his purpose is balance the relationship between oneself and community. This paper tries to explore the applicability of cultural membership up from the three levels of individuals, groups and countries. And pointed out that the internal tension-the conflict between the rights of ethnic cultural identity and the citizens’obligations to maintain national unity.Chapter I Transformation of Individual roles from rational and free individual to someone in the cultural community. This chapter discussed how to re-definition "individual" in the new context of multicultural. Will·Kymlicka argued that we are the one who is not the rational and free individual, but the one who is in the cultural community. So the transformation of Individual roles become the theoretical basis of Culture membership.Chapter II Citizenship and Cultural Membership. This chapter discuss the different between the traditional liberal citizenship and cultural membership which is produced by Kymlicka. All the theories of citizenship always associated with "rights", so Kymlicka re-define the subject of rights in the premise of multicultural. In his opinion the individual right is replace by the right of minority, so it make up for the blank areas between the individual and the state in the traditional liberal theory, help to consolidate the moral foundation of liberal theory.Chapter III Ethnic Minorities Identity:Cultural base of cultural membership. The chapter discussed vicissitudes of citizenship theory from the perspective of ethnic identity: from a unified citizenship to ethnic minorities’identity. It expand cultural base of identity, and become the theory base of cultural membership. But the question is how to use the cultural member to combine them.Chapter Ⅳ National Identity:How can we maintain unified? The chapter discussed if we strengthen the ethnic minorities identity what the national identity will be. What should the right of ethnic minorities do to protect the identity of ethnic minorities while to protect the identity of national? In this regard, Kymlicka present three strategies to ease the tension between ethnic minorities’identity and national identity, but how does these strategies successfully is the most important thing.Chapter V The Dilemma Of Cultural Membership Identity. This chapter discussed the applicability of cultural membership from two dimensions of internal tension and external reality. Cultural membership protect the right of ethnic minorities while protect the right of oneself in a certain extent. But we always ignore the obligations of the ethnic minorities. So the dilemma of cultural membership identity is how to divide the rights and obligations.