Explicitly comparative in its approach, Paradoxes of Cultural Recognition discusses central issues regarding multiculturalism in today's Europe, based on studies of Norway and the Netherlands. Distinguishing clearly the four social fields of the media, education, the labour market and issues relating to gender, it presents empirical case studies, which offer valuable insights into the nature of majority/minority relationships, whilst raising theoretical questions relevant for further comparisons.

1: Introduction; 1: Uneasy Categories; 2: Engaging with Diversity; 3: Race and the Dutch; 4: Should Integration be the Goal? A Policy for Difference and Community 1; 5: National Identity and the Sense of (Non-) Belonging; 2: Cultural Categories in Practice; 6: Discrimination and Cultural Closure at Work; 7: Ethno-Nationalism and Education; 8: Avoiding Culture and Practising Culturalism; 9: Disentangling Culture as Explanatory Factor; 10: What Difference Does it Make? Transnational Networks and Collective Engagement Among Ethnic Minorities in Norway; 3: The Migrant's Positioning and the Public Space; 11: The Process of Hybridization; 12: 'Mix, Just Mix and See What Happens'; 13: Fallen Angels; 14: Rethinking National Constellations of Citizenship; 15: Representations of the Other in Norwegian Debate Programmes 1989-1997; 16: From Obsessive Egalitarianism to Pluralist Universalism? A Normative Epilogue