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Ethnocentrism is the act of judging another culture based on preconceptions that are found in the values and standards of one's own culture – especially regarding language, behavior, customs, and religion.[1][2] These aspects or categories are distinctions that define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.[3]

The term ethnocentrism was first applied in 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.[4]

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'. and 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. [5]

Origin and development[edit]

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.[6][7] 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."[6]

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."[8] 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."[9] 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.[10]

Several theories have been reinforced through the social and psychological understandings of ethnocentrism including T.W Adorno's The 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.[11]

Anthropology[edit]

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.[citation needed] 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.[12] 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. 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.[13] 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.[14]

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.[13] Boas and anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski argued that any human science had to transcend the ethnocentric views that could blind any scientist's ultimate conclusions.[citation needed]

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), 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.[citation needed]

Scholars are generally agreed 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.[15][16]

Causes[edit]

Ethnocentrism can be caused by many intrinsic or extrinsic factors pertaining to sociology and biology. Ethnocentrism is believed to be a learned behavior embedded into a variety of beliefs and values of an individual or group.[12]

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, Trail of Tears, and the Internment of Japanese-Americans. These events were a result of cultural differences reinforced inhumanely by a superior, majority out-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."[17] Simulation-based experiments in evolutionary game theory have attempted to provide an explanation for the selection of ethnocentric-strategy phenotypes.[18][19]

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.[12]

In the realm of Psychology, 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 Tajfel and Turner that in order to maintain that positive view, people make Social Comparisons that cast competing cultural groups in an unfavorable light.[20]

Realistic Conflict Theory assumes that ethnocentrism happens due to "real or perceived conflict" in between groups. This also happens when a dominant group may perceive the new members as a threat.[21]


Research published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) suggested that ethnocentrism may be mediated by the Oxytocin hormone. It was found that in randomized controlled trials "oxytocin creates intergroup bias because oxytocin motivates in-group favoritism and, to a lesser extent, out-group derogation."[21]

Further reading[edit]

  • Ankerl, Guy (2000). Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western : a Scientific Essay. Geneva: INU PRESS. ISBN 978-2-88155-004-1.
  • Kinder, Donald R.; Kam, Cindy D. (2009). Us against them: ethnocentric foundations of American opinion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226435718.
  • Martineau, H. (1838). How to Observe Morals and manners. London: Charles Knight and Co.
  • Reynolds, V.; Falger, V.; Vine, I., eds. (1987). The Sociobiology of Ethnocentrism. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press.
  • Salter, F. K., ed. (2002). Risky Transactions. Trust, Kinship, and Ethnicity. Oxford and New York: Berghahn. ISBN 9781571813190.
  • van den Berghe, P. L. (1981). The ethnic phenomenon. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger. ISBN 9780275927097.
  • Wade, Nicholas (2011-01-10). "The Dark Side of Oxytocin, the Hormone of Love: Ethnocentrism". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-19.

References[edit]

  1. ^ John T. Omohundro (2008). Thinking like an Anthropologist: A practical introduction to Cultural Anthropology. McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-319580-3.
  2. ^ Colman, Andrew M. (2006). A dictionary of psychology. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192806321.
  3. ^ Margaret L. Andersen, Howard Francis Taylor (2006). Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-534-61716-5.
  4. ^ Sumner, W. G. Folkways. New York: Ginn, 1906.
  5. ^ "Encyclopedia of nationalism: v1: Fundamental themes; v.2: Leaders, movements, and concepts". Choice Reviews Online. 38 (11): 38–5931-38-5931. 2001-07-01. doi:10.5860/choice.38-5931. ISSN 0009-4978.
  6. ^ a b Naturalism in Sociology of the Turn of the Century (by Alexander Hofman and Alexander Kovalev), A History of Classical Sociology. Ed. by Igor Kon. Moscow, 1989, p. 84. ISBN 5-01-001102-6
  7. ^ Boris Bizumic (Research School of Psychology, the Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia). Who Coined the Concept of Ethnocentrism? A Brief Report, Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 2014, Vol. 2(1), doi:10.5964/jspp.v2i1.264
  8. ^ Sumner, William Graham (1906). "Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals". Ginn and Company. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  9. ^ Sumner, William Graham (1911). "War, and Other Essays". Yale University Press. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
  10. ^ Bizumic, Boris (2014-01-31). "Who Coined the Concept of Ethnocentrism? A Brief Report". Journal of Social and Political Psychology. 2 (1): 3–10–10. doi:10.5964/jspp.v2i1.264. ISSN 2195-3325.
  11. ^ Bizumic, Boris (2014-01-31). "Who Coined the Concept of Ethnocentrism? A Brief Report". Journal of Social and Political Psychology. 2 (1): 3–10–10. doi:10.5964/jspp.v2i1.264. ISSN 2195-3325.
  12. ^ a b c "Ethnocentrism", Dictionary of Race, Ethnicity and Culture, SAGE Publications Ltd, 2003, doi:10.4135/9781446220375.n79, ISBN 9780761969006, retrieved 2019-07-22
  13. ^ a b Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, 4th edition, London: Pluto Press, 2015, pp.10-18
  14. ^ The Mind of Primitive Man, New York: Macmillan. 1911:207
  15. ^ Boas, Franz (1921). "The Mind of Primitive Man". New York: The Macmillan Company. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  16. ^ Janine Hitchens, "Critical Implications of Franz Boas' Theory and Methodology," Dialectical Anthropology, 19 (1994), p. 244. JSTOR 29790560
  17. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The selfish gene. Oxford University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-19-929115-1.
  18. ^ Hammond, R. A.; Axelrod, R. (2006). "The Evolution of Ethnocentrism". Journal of Conflict Resolution. 50 (6): 926–936. doi:10.1177/0022002706293470. S2CID 9613947.
  19. ^ Max Hartshorn, Artem Kaznatcheev and Thomas Shultz, "The Evolutionary Dominance of Ethnocentric Cooperation" Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 30 June 2013
  20. ^ Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (2001). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In M. A. Hogg & D. Abrams (Eds.), Key readings in social psychology. Intergroup relations: Essential readings (pp. 94-109). New York, NY, US: Psychology Press.
  21. ^ a b Darity, William A. (2008). Ethnocentrism. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Macmillan Reference USA. ISBN 978-0028661179.

External links[edit]

{{Authority control}} [[Category:Ethnocentrism| ]] [[Category:Chauvinism]] [[Category:Ethnicity]] [[Category:Sociology of culture]]

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