Dominant pluralism and discursive strategies of contemporary racism against Muslim minorities in Europe

Abstract

The growth of a societal base of xenophobia in Europe poses a challenge for the Muslim minorities to alter power relations in the society. In the light of the previous and the current research as well as established theoretical insights, this paper suggests that racial discourse now strategically allows a particular form of pluralism in society, a dominant pluralism, which occludes the possibility for the Muslims to be involved equally in the public and political life. The results of the qualitative analysis, based on interviews conducted with groups holding xenophobic ideas in Austria, Bulgaria and Italy, confirmed earlier observations on contemporary racism, which suggested incommensurability of Muslim minorities with the European culture; their non-assimilative adaptation to society; their expulsion if this adaptation fails and advocating populism. Space is a crucial aspect of exclusion in this discursive frame because minorities are excluded from public and communicative spaces. The discourse is supported by the conceptual sources of a dominant form of pluralism that are found in Michel Foucault and master–slave relationship in philosophy.