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CHAPTER TWELVE: Policies and Politics of Inclusion and Clashing Values

Study

The demands of numerous groups for greater inclusion in society and the political process have raised a host of new policy issues over the last fifty years. These groups include ethnic, racial, and religious groups, as well as groups demanding changes to policies toward gender and sexual orientation. All of this has raised fundamental questions about equal citizenship and how to reconcile clashing moral values.

Identity-based groups generally desire some combination of recognition, autonomy, representation, participation, and improved social status. Their demands raise questions about what equal citizenship should really look like. Few people or governments question the legitimacy of equal treatment of all citizens regardless of ethnic or racial identity, but doing the same for women, homosexuals, or transgender individuals often conflicts with deeply held religious beliefs or long-standing cultural practices.

In recent years numerous political philosophers have developed arguments centered on which policies of inclusion should be pursued and why. At the heart of these debates is the question of individual versus group rights. Liberal democracy in its classic form is based on individual rights and the equal treatment of all citizens, but many argue that this does not produce equal citizenship.

This chapter considers the different approaches states have taken toward secularism and the role of religion in public life and the challenges each of these approaches has incurred. It looks at women's struggle for equal social status, representation, and participation and the way in which women's movements have challenged ideas of what is public and what is private. Lastly, it examines the gay rights movement and its efforts at recognition as well as legislative change.