Pluralism is not something new to the world. From the very origins, mankind is exposed to multiplicity in landscape, race, language, culture, belief-systems, etc. But pluralism as an ideology that imposes a differential identity is of recent origin. This pluralistic ideology poses serious challenges to the rules of common living. An exact understanding of pluralism will better unveil the challenge.

Pluralism follows the logic that Truth is manifested in the many and none of its manifestations possess any quality of absoluteness. It refers to a situation in which a variety of systems of thought and world-views coexist without any one of these having gained hegemony over others. The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy describes pluralism as a perspective that emphasizes diversity rather than homogeneity, multiplicity rather than unity, difference rather than sameness. Pluralism can be thus defined in varied ways; nonetheless the essential is its belief that different or even contradictory systems, thoughts, behaviour and isms should co-exist without anyone of them having dominance over others.

The pluralistic culture attacks the so called “master narratives” which claim to have universal value. For example, the grand narratives of the Enlightenment period like Marxism, Capitalism and scientific technology and religions with universal ambitions like Islam and Christianity argue that their truths are universal and necessary for the well-being of the whole humanity. Due to the influence of pluralistic thinking people realized that the claims made by the above-said isms and religions were concepts and movements that were formed locally and contextually and they were made universal by the dominant classes in a bid to naturalize their power. Because of these reasons people lost faith in the grand traditions, including the structured religions.

Disqualification of master-narratives created a favourable attitude in the people to appreciate difference and variety. Slowly, there emerged small groups asserting their marginalized identities against that of dominant classes. The subaltern groups attacked the meta-discourses and boundaries of social roles set by the elites. Once the stereotyped categories got weakened and the marginalized sections formed into cohesive groups they distanced themselves from the dominant categories of majority.

This shift of people’s adherence from the grand traditions to the local traditions has serious consequences for social living. Firstly it has created a spirit of competition among the small narratives. Cut off from the unifying frameworks of beliefs they make their own claims for dominance. The struggle of each group to discover and affirm a unique space produce mutual distrust and animosity in the society. Secondly, the ordinary people are lost in the midst of multiple identities. When extra-ordinary range of conflicting versions of reality are made available they don’t know exactly what should become the basis of their life. In discussions, each individual feel that his position is weak while that of others is well-founded. But once he is in dialogue with others he is not certain whether their claims are solidly founded. Subsequently people are bit confused and they are unable to solve their doubts on the basis of any final answer as the case was during modernity. The multiculturalism and its consequent relativism has thus led the postmodern societies into chaos and skepticism.

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