Beyond the idea of polarization: superdiversity as an alternative perspective for Dutch cities

• Peter Scholten ^[1]
  1. [1] Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Localización: Deusto journal of human rights = Revista Deusto de derechos humanos, ISSN 2530-4275, ISSN-e 2603-6002, Nº. 17, 2026 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Religions, diversities and human rights: Public policies for democratic coexistence), págs. 37-61
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.18543/djhr.3532
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Superdiversity is challenging conventional policy discourses and policy categories. Whereas legal categories and policies assume clearly demarcated groups, superdiversity helps understand the complex intersectionalities that make up today’s cities. When simplistic categories and discourses meet social complexity, this can feed sentiments of crisis and polarization. This article aims to develop superdiversity as a perspective that helps understand rather than deny social complexity. It positions The Netherlands as a revelatory case study on how superdiversity is challenging conventional policy discourses and policy categories. The article shows that discourses on crisis and polarization in Dutch societies can be better understood as misinterpretations of social complexity than as actual tensions between clearly demarcated groups. A superdiverse society involves a high degree of fragmentation, as a result of the broader processes of globalization, individualization and technologization. Migration and diversity have come to symbolize discomfort with these processes.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Abdou, Leila H., and Andrew Geddes. 2020. Managing superdiversity? Examining the intercultural policy turn in Europe. In Superdiversity, policy...
  • Crul, Maurice, and Frans Lelie. 2023. The new minority: People without a migration background in the superdiverse city. VU publishing/VU university...
  • Crul, Maurice, Jens Schneider, and Frans Lelie. 2013. Superdiversity. A new vision of integration. Amsterdam: VU University Press.
  • Crul, Maurice, and Jens Schneider. 2010. «Comparative integration context theory: Participation and belonging in new diverse European cities.»...
  • Engbersen, Godfried and Peter Scholten. 2018. The world in a city; migration diversity and urban policy in Europe. Amsterdam: WRR.
  • Engbersen, Godfried and Erik Snel. 2013. «Liquid migration. Dynamic and fluid patterns of post-accession migration flows.» In Mobility in...
  • Entzinger, Han. 2000. «The dynamics of integration policies: A multidimensional model.» In Challenging immigration and ethnic relations politics:...
  • Entzinger, Han. 2006. «Changing the rules while the game is on: From multiculturalism to assimilation in the Netherlands.» In Migration, citizenship,...
  • Entzinger, Han and Edith Dourleijn. 2008. De lat steeds hoger. De leefwereld van jongeren in een multi-etnische stad. Assen: Royal Van Gorcum...
  • Geldof, Dirk. 2016. Superdiversity in the heart of Europe; how migration changes our society. Copenhagen: ACCO.
  • Harteveld, Eelco, Wouter Van Der Brug, Sarah De Lange and Tom Van Der Meer. 2022. «Multiple roots of the populist radical right: Support for...
  • Hollinger, David A. 1995. Postethnic America: beyond multiculturalism. New York: Hachette.
  • Ingram, Helen, Anne I. Schneider, and Peter Deleon. 2019. «Social construction and policy design.» In Theories of the policy process, edited...
  • Koopmans, Ruud, Paul Statham, Marco Giugni and Florence Passy. 2005. Contested citizenship: Immigration and cultural diversity in Europe....
  • Meer, Tom van der and Jochem Tolsma. 2014. «Ethnic diversity and its effects on social capital.» Annual Review of Sociology 40: 459-478.
  • Meissner, Fran and Steven Vertovec. 2017. Comparing super-diversity. London: Routledge.
  • Parliamentary inquiry committee on integration policy. 2004. Building bridges. The Hague: SDU.
  • Phillimore, Jenny, Nando Sigona, and Katherine Tonkiss, ed. 2020. Superdiversity, policy and governance in Europe: multi-scalar perspectives....
  • Schinkel, Willem. 2018. «Against ‘immigrant integration’: for an end to neocolonial knowledge production.» Comparative migration studies 6:...
  • Scholten, Peter. 2020.Mainstreaming versus alienation: A complexity approach to the governance of migration and diversity. Berlin: Springer...
  • Scholten, Peter. 2020. «Mainstreaming versus alienation: Conceptualizing the role of complexity in migration and diversity policymaking.»...
  • Scholten, Peter. 2023. «The governance of superdiversity: a complexity perspective» In The Oxford handbook of superdiversity, edited by Fran...
  • Scholten, Peter. 2025. De Migratie-Obsessie. Hoe één thema het debat blijft bepalen. Boom.
  • Scholten, Peter, Maurice Crul, and Paul Van de Laar. 2019. Coming to terms with superdiversity: The case of Rotterdam. Berlin: Springer Nature.
  • Scientific Council for Government Policy. 2016. Migration and categorization: towards a multiple migration idiom. The Hague: WRR.
  • Scientific Council for Government Policy. 2018. The new diversity. Increasing diversity by origin in the Netherlands. The Hague: WRR.
  • Scientific Council for Government Policy. 2020. Living together in diversity. Policy for the migration society. The Hague: WRR.
  • Vertovec, Steven. 2007. «Super-diversity and its implications.» Ethnic and Racial Studies 30(6): 1024-1054.
  • Vertovec, Steven. 2019. «Epilogue: What’s the matter with Rotterdam?» In Coming to terms with superdiversity: the case of Rotterdam, edited...
  • Vertovec, Steven. 2023. Superdiversity: Migration and social complexity. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
  • Wessendorf, Susanne. 2010. Commonplace diversity: Social relations in a super-diverse context. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Zapata-Barrero, Ricard, ed. 2015. Interculturalism in cities: Concept, policy and implementation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Zapata-Barrero, Ricard, Tiziana Caponio, and Peter Scholten. 2017. «Theorizing the ‘local turn’ in a multi-level governance framework of analysis:...