https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is a term used in social sciences and anthropology to describe the act of judging another culture and believing that the values and standards of one's own culture are superior – especially with regard to language, behavior, customs, and religion. These aspects or categories are distinctions that define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.
The term ethnocentrism, deriving from the Greek word ethnos meaning "nation, people, or cultural grouping" and the Latin word centric meaning "center," was first applied in the social sciences by American sociologist William G. Sumner. In his 1906 book, Folkways, Sumner describes ethnocentrism as; "the technical name for the view of things in which one's own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it." He further characterized ethnocentrism as often leading to pride, vanity, the belief in one's own group's superiority, and contempt for outsiders.
Over time, ethnocentrism developed alongside the progression of social understandings by people such as social theorist, Theodore W. Adorno. In Adorno's The Authoritarian Personality, he and his colleagues of the Frankfurt School established a broader definition of the term as a result of "in group-out group differentiation", stating that ethnocentrism "combines a positive attitude toward one's own ethnic/cultural group (the in-group) with a negative attitude toward the other ethnic/cultural group (the out-group)". Both of these juxtaposing attitudes are also a result of a process known as social identification and social counter-identification.
Ethnocentrism is a term used in social sciences and anthropology to describe the act of judging another culture and believing that the values and standards of one's own culture are superior – especially with regard to language, behavior, customs, and religion. These aspects or categories are distinctions that define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.
The term ethnocentrism, deriving from the Greek word ethnos meaning "nation, people, or cultural grouping" and the Latin word centric meaning "center," was first applied in the social sciences by American sociologist William G. Sumner. In his 1906 book, Folkways, Sumner describes ethnocentrism as; "the technical name for the view of things in which one's own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it." He further characterized ethnocentrism as often leading to pride, vanity, the belief in one's own group's superiority, and contempt for outsiders.
Over time, ethnocentrism developed alongside the progression of social understandings by people such as social theorist, Theodore W. Adorno. In Adorno's The Authoritarian Personality, he and his colleagues of the Frankfurt School established a broader definition of the term as a result of "in group-out group differentiation", stating that ethnocentrism "combines a positive attitude toward one's own ethnic/cultural group (the in-group) with a negative attitude toward the other ethnic/cultural group (the out-group)". Both of these juxtaposing attitudes are also a result of a process known as social identification and social counter-identification.
Origins and development
The term ethnocentrism is believed by scholars to have been created by Austrian sociologist Ludwig Gumplowicz in the 19th century, although alternate theories suggest that he only popularized the concept as opposed to inventing it. He saw ethnocentrism as a phenomenon similar to the delusions of geocentrism and anthropocentrism,
defining Ethnocentrism as "the reasons by virtue of which each group of
people believed it had always occupied the highest point, not only
among contemporaneous peoples and nations, but also in relation to all
peoples of the historical past."
Subsequently in the 20th century, American social scientist William G. Sumner proposed two different definitions in his 1906 book Folkways.
Sumner stated that "Ethnocentrism is the technical name for this view
of things in which one's own group is the center of everything, and all
others are scaled and rated with reference to it." In the War and Other Essays (1911),
he wrote that "the sentiment of cohesion, internal comradeship, and
devotion to the in-group, which carries with it a sense of superiority
to any out-group and readiness to defend the interests of the in-group
against the out-group, is technically known as ethnocentrism."
According to Boris Bizumic it is a popular misunderstanding that Sumner
originated the term ethnocentrism, stating that in actuality he brought
ethnocentrism into the mainstreams of anthropology, social science, and psychology through his English publications.
Several theories have been reinforced through the social and psychological understandings of ethnocentrism including T.W Adorno's Authoritarian Personality Theory (1950), Donald T. Campbell's Realistic Group Conflict Theory (1972), and Henri Tajfel's Social Identity Theory (1986). These theories have helped to distinguish ethnocentrism as a means to better understand the behaviors caused by in-group and out-group differentiation throughout history and society.
Anthropology
The classifications of ethnocentrism originate from the studies of anthropology.
With its omnipresence throughout history, ethnocentrism has always been
a factor in how different cultures and groups related to one another.
Examples including how historically, foreigners would be characterized
as 'Barbarians', or China would believe their nation to be the 'Empire
of the Center' and viewing foreigners as privileged subordinates.
However, the anthropocentric interpretations initially took place most
notably in the 19th century when anthropologists began to describe and
rank various cultures according to the degree to which they had
developed significant milestones such as; monotheistic religions,
technological advancements, and other historical progressions.
Most rankings were strongly influenced by colonization and the
belief to improve societies they colonized, ranking the cultures based
on the progression of their western societies and what they classified
as milestones. Comparisons were mostly based on what the colonists
believed as superior and what their western societies have accomplished.
Thomas Macaulay, an English politician in the 19th
Century, attempted to validate the opinion that "one shelf of a Western
library" had more knowledge then the years of text and literature
developed by the Eastern societies. Ideas developed by Charles Darwin has ethnocentric ideals where societies who believed they were superior were most likely to survive and prosper.
Edward Said’s orientalist concept represented how Western reactions to
non-Western societies were based on an "unequal power relationship" that
Western peoples developed due to colonization and the influence it held
over non-Western societies.
The ethnocentric classification of "primitive" were also used by 19th and 20th
century anthropologists and represented how unawareness in cultural and
religious understanding changed overall reactions to non-Western
societies. Modern anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor wrote about "primitive" societies in Primitive Culture (1871) creating a "civilization" scale where it was implied that ethnic cultures preceded civilized societies.
The use of "savage" as a classification is modernly known as "tribal"
or "pre-literate" where it was usually referred as a derogatory term as
the "civilization" scale became more common.
Examples that demonstrate a lack of understanding include when European
travelers judged different languages based on that fact that they could
not understand it and displayed a negative reaction, or the intolerance
displayed by Westerners when exposed to unknown religions and
symbolisms. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,
a German philosopher, justified Western colonization by reasoning that
since the non-Western societies were "primitive" and "uncivilized,"
their culture and history was not worth conserving and should allow
Westernization.
Anthropologist Franz Boas
saw the flaws in this formulaic approach to ranking and interpreting
cultural development and committed himself to overthrowing this
inaccurate reasoning due to many factors involving their individual
characteristics. With his methodological innovations, Boas sought to
show the error of the proposition that race determined cultural
capacity. In his 1911 book The Mind of Primitive Man, Boas wrote that:
It is somewhat difficult for us to recognize that the value which we attribute to our own civilization is due to the fact that we participate in this civilization, and that it has been controlling all our actions from the time of our birth; but it is certainly conceivable that there may be other civilizations, based perhaps on different traditions and on a different equilibrium of emotion and reason, which are of no less value than ours, although it may be impossible for us to appreciate their values without having grown up under their influence.
Together,
Boas and his colleagues propagated the certainty that there are no
inferior races or cultures. This egalitarian approach introduced the
concept of cultural relativism
to anthropology, a methodological principle for investigating and
comparing societies in as unprejudiced as possible and without using a
developmental scale as anthropologists at the time were implementing. Boas and anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski argued that any human science had to transcend the ethnocentric views that could blind any scientist's ultimate conclusions.
Both had also urged anthropologists to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in order to overcome their ethnocentrism. To help, Malinowski would develop the theory of functionalism
as guides for producing non-ethnocentric studies of different cultures.
Classic examples of anti-ethnocentric anthropology include Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), which in time has met with severe criticism for its incorrect data and generalisations, Malinowski's The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia (1929), and Ruth Benedict's Patterns of Culture (1934). Mead and Benedict were two of Boas's students.
Scholars generally agree that Boas developed his ideas under the influence of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Legend has it that, on a field trip to the Baffin Islands in 1883, Boas would pass the frigid nights reading Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.
In that work, Kant argued that human understanding could not be
described according to the laws that applied to the operations of
nature, and that its operations were therefore free, not determined, and
that ideas regulated human action, sometimes independent of material
interests. Following Kant, Boas pointed out the starving Eskimos who,
because of their religious beliefs, would not hunt seals to feed
themselves, thus showing that no pragmatic or material calculus
determined their values.
Causes
Ethnocentrism is believed to be a learned behavior embedded into a variety of beliefs and values of an individual or group.
Due to enculturation,
individuals in in-groups have a deeper sense of loyalty and are more
likely to following the norms and develop relationships with associated
members.
Within relation to enculturation, ethnocentrism is said to be a
transgenerational problem since stereotypes and similar perspectives can
be enforced and encouraged as time progresses.
Although loyalty can increase better in-grouper approval, limited
interactions with other cultures can prevent individuals to have an
understanding and appreciation towards cultural differences resulting in
greater ethnocentrism.
The social identity approach
suggests that ethnocentric beliefs are caused by a strong
identification with one's own culture that directly creates a positive
view of that culture. It is theorized by Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner that in order to maintain that positive view, people make social comparisons that cast competing cultural groups in an unfavorable light.
Alternative or opposite perspectives could cause individuals to develop naïve realism and be subject to limitations in understandings. These characteristics can also lead to individuals to become subject to ethnocentrism, when referencing out-groups, and black sheep effect, where personal perspectives contradict those from fellow in-groupers.
Realistic conflict theory
assumes that ethnocentrism happens due to "real or perceived conflict"
between groups. This also happens when a dominant group may perceive the
new members as a threat. Scholars
have recently demonstrated that individuals are more likely to develop
in-group identification and out-group negatively in response to
intergroup competition, conflict, or threat.
Although the causes of ethnocentric beliefs and actions can have
varying roots of context and reason, the effects of ethnocentrism has
had both negative and positive effects throughout history. The most
detrimental effects of ethnocentrism resulting into genocide, apartheid, slavery, and many violent conflicts. Historical examples of these negative effects of ethnocentrism are The Holocaust, the Crusades, the Trail of Tears, and the internment of Japanese Americans.
These events were a result of cultural differences reinforced
inhumanely by a superior, majority group. In his 1976 book on evolution,
The Selfish Gene, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins writes that "blood-feuds and inter-clan warfare are easily interpretative in terms of Hamilton's genetic theory." Simulation-based experiments in evolutionary game theory have attempted to provide an explanation for the selection of ethnocentric-strategy phenotypes.
The positive examples of ethnocentrism throughout history have
aimed to prohibit the callousness of ethnocentrism and reverse the
perspectives of living in a single culture. These organizations can
include the formation of the United Nations; aimed to maintain international relations, and the Olympic Games; a celebration of sports and friendly competition between cultures.
Effects
A study in New Zealand was used to compare how individuals associate with in-groups and out-groupers and has a connotation to discrimination. Strong in-group favoritism benefits the dominant groups and is different from out-group hostility and/or punishment.
A suggested solution is to limit the perceived threat from the
out-group that also decreases the likeliness for those supporting the
in-groups to negatively react.
Ethnocentrism also influences consumer preference over which
goods they purchase. A study that used several in-group and out-group
orientations have shown a correlation between national identity, consumer cosmopolitanism, consumer ethnocentrism, and the methods consumer choose their products, whether imported or domestic.
