Systematic studies of multiculturalism began in the 1970s mainly in Canada and Australia. Defeat the ideologies of assimilation in the U.S. has become one of the causes of the broad stream of publications devoted to this phenomenon, which was initially perceived as the key to solving all ethno-cultural problems. The authors analyze various approaches to the definition of “multiculturalism”. Some different types of multiculturalism on the example of Poland are reviewed.