The multiculturalism discussions. Academic context. Part 1

The author analyses the multiculturalism concept as one of the most debated and discussed theme in social science and media. During the 1990s, multicultural enthusiasm was associated with the desire to develop clear models and algorithms for intercultural communication in multi-component communities. However, in the 2010s-2020s the political leaders of several states, primarily in Europe, declared the fiasco of multiculturalism, that was not also enough sensitive to the culture of the majority, led to the «parallel communities» formation and dangerous centrifugal tendencies in society. The political statements of multiculturalist skeptics were followed by the academic discourse reformation, expressed both in statements about the onset of a post-multicultural era and a turn towards interculturalism, and in pedantic corrections of mistakes on the interpretation of the foundations of the multiculturalism policy.