Ethnocentrism: what it is, its causes and characteristics

Let us look at the characteristics of ethnocentrism, a phenomenon studied by the social sciences.

Hardly anyone would like to admit that he or she has been assigned a bad culture, but most would say that their culture is undoubtedly the best. How curious that 99% of the world's population has had the good fortune to be born in the best place in the world?

Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own culture is the main reference from which to judge things.. Basically, it is judging other cultures based on stereotypes, beliefs and points of view that have been imposed on us for as long as we can remember.

Next we will deepen in this concept, understanding which are its causes, its consequences and contrasting it with the idea of cultural relativism.

What is ethnocentrism?

Ethnocentrism, in its strictest sense, is the tendency of a person or a group of people to the tendency of a person or a human group to interpret reality on the basis of its own cultural parameters..

This practice is usually linked to the bias of thinking that one's own ethnicity and all its cultural characteristics are superior to the ethnic traits of others. In other words, it implies granting a superior value to one's own culture over others, using patterns from one's own culture to judge the culture of others.

For practical purposes, ethnocentrism is a universal value. In every culture in general and in every person in particular, one can observe beliefs that glorify the ingroup and demonize or, at least, discredit foreign cultures, whatever the cut-off point to delimit between one's own culture and foreign culture (e.g., Catalan culture vs. Spanish culture, Spanish culture vs. French culture, European culture vs. African culture...). This is because almost everyone tends to think that they were born into the best culture.

This belief can have all sorts of consequences. The "softer" ones would involve not bothering to learn about other people's traditions, or not taking the risk of trying the cuisine of other countries or not taking the risk of trying the cuisine of other countries, seeing it as too exotic and dangerous to one's health. However, ethnocentrism has been associated with more serious consequences throughout history, such as racism, xenophobia and ethnic and religious intolerance, although not necessarily.

Causes

There is much research, both from anthropology and the social sciences, that points to ethnocentrism as a learned behavioral and thought pattern. The belief of seeing other cultures as worse or even inferior would be acquired by the individual as he/she develops in his/her cultural context of origin.

It should be understood that no individual, no matter how hard he or she tries, is separated from his or her culture.. Whatever the culture, it will permeate the characteristics of the individual, especially his or her personality, individual history and knowledge. As a general rule, as the individual grows older and establishes more relationships with the other members of the endogroup, he/she becomes more loyal to them, being more faithful to the socially imposed norms.

In turn, ethnocentrism has an important transgenerational component, i.e., it is passed from generation to generation. Stereotypes and worldviews, no matter how false or exaggerated they may be, are reinforced and fostered through generations, are reinforced and fostered as time goes by, inherited from parents to children, and even transformed and even become an important component of one's own culture.

Basically, an important component of culture can be based on belittling other cultures. This can be observed in many languages that use expressions based on stereotypes, as would be the case of Spanish with phrases such as "hacer el indio" (to clown around), "engañar como a un chino" (to deceive like a Chinaman), "trabajar como un negro" (to work hard and exploited), "hacerse el sueco" (to pretend ignorance) or "ser más tonto que de Lepe" (to be especially short of intelligence), among others.

From the field of social psychology, two theories have been put forward as potential explanations of the phenomenon.

In the first place, we have Social Identity Theory. It suggests that ethnocentric beliefs are caused by a strong identification with one's own culture, creating a positive and idealized view of it. In order to maintain this positive view, people tend to make social comparisons with other ethnic groups, as if it were a competition, looking at them in a more critical and pejorative perspective.

On the other hand, we have the Realistic Conflict Theory, which assumes that ethnocentrism is caused by the perception or experience of a real conflict between two or more ethnic groups. This occurs when a culturally dominant group perceives new members belonging to a foreign culture as a threat.

Consequences

At first glance, ethnocentrism may seem to be a trend that implies negative consequences. This is true to the extent that presupposing that other cultures are inferior to one's own may motivate actions aimed at eliminating the exogroup.. In fact, it is ethnocentric visions that are responsible for the great misfortunes of humanity, such as the Holocaust, the Crusades or the expulsion of North American Indians from their lands. In all these events the dominant cultural group negatively highlighted the cultural traits of others, thus justifying ethnic cleansing.

However, and as surprising as it may seem, ethnocentrism can have its positive consequences, acting as a defense mechanism to preserve one's own culture. An example of this would be not tolerating traditions and languages foreign to the territory since, in the long run, it could imply a process of cultural substitution and eventual elimination of the culture that came before.

In fact, it is also thanks to ethnocentric ideas, whatever the continent, that the creation of a single world culture has been avoided. Since the world has been globalizing, many cultures have ended up disappearing, mainly because they wanted to assimilate a homogeneous behavioral pattern worldwide. In response to globalization and the creation of a single culture, the various cultures of the world have been cultivating ethnocentric ideas, in such a way that taking refuge in the idea that their culture is better allows even the smallest of them to continue to exist.

Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism

Anthropology has tried to study all the cultures of the world as objectively as possible.. This is why this science has fought to combat the ethnocentric vision, since it is not possible to study a culture and everything related to it by considering it as something inferior or more primitive. Moreover, given that it is common for the anthropologist to use participant observation to learn more about a culture, an ethnocentric bias would be a liability for his study, preventing him from learning about the ethnic group in question.

However, as we have already discussed, ethnocentric, but not racist or xenophobic, behaviors are a universal pattern. Everyone displays, to a greater or lesser extent, this bias, not being able to avoid thinking that their culture of origin is better and that the culture of others is strange. It is difficult to be European and not see the cultures of other continents as more primitive and savage or, seen from the other direction, it is difficult to be Japanese and not see Europeans as dirtier and messier.

In contrast to the idea of ethnocentrism is cultural relativism, its most opposite view. This current of thought, rather understood as a properly anthropological way of acting, implies accepting the idea that no culture should be judged on the basis of the patterns of another. For example, we cannot judge African tribal cultures from a European, Western, white and Christian point of view, since the other culture will always end up "losing".

However, to accept completely the cultural traits of the ethnic group under study runs the risk of accepting behaviors that, whatever culture they come from, are not acceptable insofar as they violate human rights, individual freedom and ethics. For example, being extremely culturally relativistic could make us justify stoning in Islamic countries ("it is their traditions"), bullfighting ("art is something very relative") or female circumcision ("it is their culture and we must respect it").

Bibliographical references:

• Hogg, M.A., and Abrams, D. (1988). Social identification: A social psychology of intergroup relation and group process. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
• Smith-Castro, V.. (2006). The social psychology of intergroup relations: models and hypotheses. Current events in psychology, 20(107), 45-71.