Resumen de Mainstreaming ethnicity: Horace Kallen, the strategy of transcendence, and cultural pluralism
Horace Kallen set forth the concept of cultural pluralism in the midst of World War I to contest the prevailing vision of America as a well‐functioning “melting pot.” Kallen's interpretation suggested that an ethnic group was the basic unit of society, but that no one group's culture or viewpoint should be dominant. This article suggests that a strategy of transcendence pervaded Kallen's discourse, and allowed Kallen to advocate the position that culture triumphed over politics and nationality transcended citizenship. Kallen also believed that pluralism provided an affirmative mandate for minority groups to resist assimilation. This article offers several reasons why advocates of ethnic groups were attracted to the notion of cultural pluralism, while it discusses several criticisms of the concept.
