Ethnocentrism

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Context

Ethnocentrism broadly refers to ethnic self-centredness and self-importance. This attitude could lead an individual to believe that their own culture or way of life is the correct way of living. It could also result in hostility towards other cultures.

• Ethnocentrism is therefore the tendency to view one’s own group, the ‘in-group’, as the archetype and all other groups, the ‘out-groups’, with reference to this ideal.
• The in-group’s boundaries are defined by one or more observable characteristics such as language, accent, physical features or religion, indicating common descent.
• While initially used in anthropology, the term is now used widely in sociology, psychology, political science, economics and markets, among other disciplines.

Changing definitions

• Scientific interest in the term ethnocentrism started in the late 19th and early 20th century. Charles Darwin argued that competition with other groups makes people more cooperative with members of their own group, which further influences group prosperity (Boris Bizumic, 2012).
• Herbert Spencer argued that societies in general are characterised by internal amity (towards members of one’s group) and external enmity (towards everyone else).  Neither of them used the term ethnocentrism, however.
• Developing their ideas, it was the anthropologist William Sumner who is first said to have coined the term in 1906 in his book Folkways and also used the concepts ‘in-group’ and ‘out-group’.
• However, it was the geologist and anthropologist William John McGee who is said to have first used the term in print. For McGee, ethnocentrism was a particular way of thinking similar to egocentrism, but characteristic of ethnic groups.

Characteristics of Ethnocenterism

• Robert A. Levine, an anthropologist, and Donald T. Campbell, a social psychologist, argued that ethnocentrism is a set of 23 characteristics, nine of which are positive attitudes towards a perceived in-group (such as perceptions about virtue and morals) and 14 of which are negative attitudes towards a perceived out-group (such as distrust, suspicion and blame).
• Negative Impact:
  • Early anthropologists argued that this feeling of superiority about the in-group curtailed an individual’s ability to understand the practices and values of other groups and to trust them.
  • This feeling, they said, could lead to prejudice, dislike, dominance, ethnic conflict, instability of democratic institutions, and even war.
  • Ethnocentrism can also affect consumer choices and voting.
  • But it might just be a preference choice, rather than superiority complex:
• Later theorists argued that ethnocentrism might simply be preference for in-groups over out-groups. They said that the segregation of in-groups and out-groups should not necessarily be attributed to bias.
• In other words, they argued that you can be indifferent towards perceived out-groups or even like them, but less than you like your perceived in-group. Or you may dislike an out-group, but that attitude might not necessarily translate into some sort of discriminatory behaviour in a given situation.

Distinction with Nationalism:

• Ethnocentrism is also quite similar to nationalism. All the expressions of ethnocentrism, such as feelings of superiority and even hostility towards out-groups, could be easily attributed to nationalism, but while ethnocentrism is at the level of an ethnic group, nationalism is at the level of a national group.
• Nevertheless, it is also important to note that nationalism also assumes certain factors that are not necessary for ethnocentrism. National groups are defined by the belongingness to a group that inhabits a national state or aspires to form a national state whereas ethnic groups do not require national states to be called ethnic groups, and they may lack a shared public culture or even territory (Smith, 2001).
• Ethnocentric feelings and attitudes such as preference for a familiar culture and group superiority have been exploited by nationalism.

Conclusion: A study from India in 1970s – showed how ethnocentrism is evidenced not only in the form of generalised attitudes but also in the form of attributions for specific behaviour.

The Hindu link

https://www.thehindu.com/society/ethnocentrism/article38369090.ece

Question- Define ethnocentrism and how it is different from nationalism.