Super-diversity: A new perspective on integration

Inhabitants of Dutch descent are no longer a majority in Amsterdam. Professor Maurice Crul addresses the superdivers city in his inaugural lecture. For the first time the people in Amsterdam from Dutch origin are a minority. This brings on the question who should adapt to who? Super-diversity draws a new perspective in the debate on integration. It argues that we are standing at a crossroads. On the one hand the multi-ethnic city is a fact: for the first time the people from Dutch origin are a minority in Amsterdam, just like all the other ethnic groups. On the other hand the idea of the multicultural society is increasingly viewed as naive, since cultural equality opens the door for undesirable cultural habits, like the repression of women. Super-diversity offers a progressive alternative for the failed idea of multiculturalism and the worn-out call from politicians for migrants to adapt to Dutch values. In his view, the key to a successfully diverse society lies in the emancipation of second generation women. Super-diversity carries out a vision of hope. But there is also urgency to it. It shows that an un-emancipated second generation withdraws from society, and is even more conservative than their parents.