Multiculturalism and crisis of identity: the experience of the USA and Canada

Abstract

The article provides an overview of international experiences, namely the practices of the United States of America and Canada in which «multiculturalism» acts as a state policy in defining national identity in the area of cultural policy, in the contemporary world the problem of overcoming the crisis of the national identity for any state is one of the most essential topics. The paper also shows that Canada and the United States of America are some of the few countries in the world that use the model of multiculturalism as an integration policy, have a multi-ethnic population, and receive hundreds of thousands of temporary or permanent immigrants every year. The policy of multiculturalism, as one of the models of integration policy, is used in these states as one of the ways to achieve this goal. The purpose of the authors is to analyze the policies and actions of these foreign countries and to show that the calling of a multicultural policy is considered to be the consolidation of a fragmented society by ethno-cultural characteristics, through the comprehensive support of cultural diversity.