Most societies today are plural and internally diverse but we cannot, by this token alone, say that they are multicultural. The existence of many different cultures does not by itself make a society multicultural. It is only when these diverse cultures exist as equals in the public arena that a democracy can claim to be multicultural. The concern for equality is a constitutive element of multiculturalism. It is therefore not surprising to find that votaries of multiculturalism are particularly attentive to the criticism that multicultural policies and practices promote inter-group equality but remain largely insensitive to demands for intra-group equality.

The first wave of multicultural writing deconstructed the nation-state and challenged the picture of a homogenized political community. Distinguishing between majority and minority communities they had shown that the policies of the state systematically disadvantage minorities in the public arena. The second wave of multicultural writing has extended this analysis by deconstructing the cultural community along with the nation-state. Addressing the anxieties of their liberal and feminist critics these theorists accept that communities are internally differentiated and there exist hierarchies of power and domination within each. Consequently, special rights given to communities may at times be appropriated to empower traditional leadership and to sanction practices that endorse existing inequalities between groups. Recognition of this possibility has triggered some rethinking on multicultural frameworks with a view to ensuring that the concern for equality within the community is accommodated along with the commitment to promoting equality between communities.