Support for multiculturalism in The Netherlands Saskia R. G. Schalk-Soekar, Seger M. Breugelmans and Fons J. R. van de Vijver Cultural diversity in The Netherlands has become an important topic in politics and the media, particularly the question of how to deal with it. The term ‘‘multiculturalism’’ has two meanings in this debate: a demographic mean- ing, in that it refers to a culturally heterogeneous population, and an ideology, which entails that cultural differences should be accepted and valued by all groups in society. The latter meaning of multiculturalism has been the main focus of recent debates. However, like in most other countries, few data are avail- able on the views on multi- culturalism of the Dutch majority. The current study assesses these views. Multicultural policies in The Netherlands During the 1970s and 1980s, several countries, such as Canada, Australia, Sweden, Germany, the UK and the USA, adopted multicultural policies (Arends-To´th and van de Vijver 2003; Berry 1984; Berry and Kalin 1995, 2002; Breugelmans and van de Vijver 2004; Ho 1996; Joppke 1996; Wievorka 1998). 1 This was also the case for The Netherlands, but the policy has undergone major shifts since its introduction (Tijdelijke Commissie Onderzoek Integratiebeleid 2004). During the 1970s the policy, called ‘‘integration with maintenance of one’s own cultural identity’’ was based on the assumption that the immigrants (who were mainly guest workers doing unskilled jobs) would not stay permanently. It became clear in the 1980s that most of these workers did not intend to go back to their country of origin. As a consequence, government policy changed and stressed the full participa- tion of immigrant groups in Dutch society. The main objectives of this ‘‘ethnic minority’’ policy were to reduce the social and eco- nomic disadvantage of ethnic minorities and to stimulate their emancipa- tion and participation in Dutch society. There was a further shift from the ethnic minority policy towards an ‘‘integration policy’’ in the 1990s, as a result of which the main concept became ‘‘active citizenship’’, which focused on the responsibil- ities, rights and obligations of individuals. Its primary aim was to create conditions in which all individuals might take responsibility for their own position in society. Education and support for labour market entry were considered of key importance for full participation in Dutch society. From 2000 this policy continued with the additional aim of bridging the gap between Saskia R. G. Schalk-Soekar is a social scientific researcher at the Department of Vocational Training and Centre for Qual- ity and Care Research, Radboud Univer- sity Nijmegen. 166 Voha, PO Box 9101, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Email: s.schalk-soekar@voha.umcn.nl Seger M. Breugelmans is a lecturer in cross-cultural psychology at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and at Babylon, Tilburg University, The Nether- lands. PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. Email: s.m.breugelmans@uvt.nl Fons J. R. van de Vijver is Professor at the North-West University, South Africa and the Department of Cross-cultural Psy- chology, Tilburg University. PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands. Email: fons.vandevijver@uvt.nl ISSJ 192 r UNESCO 2009. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DK, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.