Edexcel A-Level Politics | Paper 2 | 2027 Predicted Paper | Question 6(b) Mark Scheme
Question 6 Mark Scheme: Multiculturalism
Question 6 is a 24-mark Political Ideas essay, worth 8 marks each for AO1, AO2 and AO3. The command phrase “To what extent” requires students to identify genuine areas of agreement and disagreement, compare the different strands directly, use prescribed thinkers to support those arguments, and sustain a judgement about the degree of unity.
Pearson requires candidates to consider both sides and refer to specific multiculturalist thinkers. If either requirement is missing, the response cannot progress beyond Level 2. The specification identifies liberal, pluralist and cosmopolitan multiculturalism and the thinkers Isaiah Berlin, Charles Taylor, Bhikhu Parekh, Tariq Modood and Will Kymlicka.
Levels of response
Level | Marks | Characteristics |
Level 1 | 1–4 | Superficial knowledge, limited comparison, largely descriptive arguments and unsupported conclusions. |
Level 2 | 5–9 | Some accurate knowledge and emerging comparison, but analysis and evaluation are uneven or only partly developed. |
Level 3 | 10–14 | Mostly accurate knowledge, generally focused comparative analysis and some substantiated judgements. |
Level 4 | 15–19 | Accurate, carefully selected knowledge, consistent comparison and mostly substantiated evaluation. |
Level 5 | 20–24 | Thorough and effectively selected knowledge, perceptive and sustained comparative analysis, and consistently substantiated judgements leading to a fully focused conclusion. |
These are Pearson's current Paper 2 level descriptors for the 24-mark multiculturalism questions.
Question 6(b)
Question
To what extent do multiculturalists disagree about whether cultural diversity can be combined with civic unity?
This question goes directly to the central purpose of the multiculturalism option. Pearson describes multiculturalism as concerned with balancing cultural and religious diversity with civic unity and integrating different identities into an overarching collective identity.
Students need to distinguish two questions:
Can diversity and unity coexist at all?
If they can, what form of integration best achieves that balance?
The strongest answer is likely to find substantial agreement among multiculturalist strands that diversity and civic unity can coexist, but significant disagreement about how the balance should be achieved.
One precision point matters here: the conservative criticism that “there can be no diversity within unity” is specified by Edexcel, but it is a criticism of multiculturalism, not one of the three multiculturalist strands. It is therefore useful as a counterargument, but should not be labelled liberal, pluralist or cosmopolitan multiculturalism.
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