This article analyzes multiculturalist reflections about the special needs of representation, which try to guarantee more equality and political engagement for minorities in contemporary democracies. This study seeks to demonstrate that the theme of representation as presented by multiculturalist authors is not free from tensions when in relation to suppositions of difference and inequality. In order to discuss these problems, it is exposed, at first, how multiculturalist theories depend on models of “descriptive representation” in which representative and represented share similar perspectives and same social origin. Therefore, it is discussed that there are certain theoretical standoffs that do not seem to have been appropriately answered. They deal fundamentally with the tension between the defense of special representation forms and the idea that such rights must not imply in a logic of identity reinforcement and groups’ essencialization.
multiculturalism; political representation; contemporary political theory; social theory; social identities