All the fundamental value specifications of modernity are in continuous and explosive displacement. One could even speak of mutation. All the major words and concepts are changing. They are transforming.

Not coincidentally, freedom becomes "the right to self-differentiation," equality "equality of individual opportunities," and progress "economic maximization." As for solidarity and brotherhood, they remain by the wayside. And mutations are never innocent.

Thus, the sudden emergence of the "right to difference" and "multiculturalism" in the foreground cannot be detached from its social and ideological context. The new demands are directly related to the side effects of globalization, the collapse of closed political entities, the weakening of stable national identities, and the disintegration of the Welfare State.

The fact that the "right to difference" appears to be disconnected from social justice and the right to immediate survival is therefore not a coincidence. As long as the validation of free choice is uncoupled from the materiality of the survival needs of all without exception of the wronged, the dream of a better world remains open and unfulfilled.