Ethnocentrism: what it is, causes and characteristics

Almost no one would like to admit that they have been dealt a bad culture, but most would say that their culture is, without a doubt, the best. How curious that 99% of the world population has been lucky enough 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 people's cultures based on the stereotypes, beliefs and point of view that have been imposed on us since we can remember.

Next we will delve into this concept, understanding its causes, its consequences and contrasting it with the idea of ​​cultural relativism.

• Related article: "What is Cultural Psychology?"

What is ethnocentrism?

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

Usually this practice is linked to the bias of thinking that one's own ethnic group and all its cultural characteristics are superior to the ethnic traits of others. That is to say, it implies granting a higher value to one's own culture compared to others, using patterns of one's own 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, beliefs can be observed that extol the ingroup and demonize or, at least, they discredit the cultures of others, whatever the cut-off point to delimit between their own culture and the culture of others (p. eg, Catalan culture vs. Castilian culture, Spanish culture vs. French culture, European culture vs. African culture...). This is because almost everyone tends to think that they were born in the best culture.

This belief can have all kinds of consequences. The “softer” ones would imply not bothering to learn about other people's traditions or not risk trying the gastronomy of other countries, seeing it as too exotic and dangerous for 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 are many investigations, both from anthropology and from the social sciences, in which it is pointed out that ethnocentrism is a learned pattern of behavior and thought. The belief of seeing other cultures as worse or even inferior would be acquired by the individual as he develops in his cultural context of origin.

It can be understood that no individual, no matter how hard they try, is separated from their culture. Whatever it is, the culture will impregnate the characteristics of the individual, especially the personality, individual history and knowledge of him. As a general rule, as you grow and establish more relationships with the other members of the ingroup the individual manifests greater loyalty to them, being more faithful to social norms imposed.

In turn, ethnocentrism has an important transgenerational component, that is, it is passed from generation to generation. Stereotypes and views of the world, however false or exaggerated they may be, they are reinforced and fostered as time goes by, being inherited from parents to children and even becoming an important component of their own culture.

Basically, an important component of culture may be based on belittling other cultures. This can be observed in many languages ​​that use expressions based on stereotypes, as would be the case in Spanish with phrases such as “hacer el indio” (make antics), “deceive like a Chinese” (to deceive completely), “work like a black man” (work a lot and be exploited), “play Swedish” (feign ignorance) or “be dumber than Lepe” (be especially short on intelligence), among others.

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

First of all, we have Social Identity Theory. With it, it is suggested that ethnocentric beliefs are caused by a strong identification with one's own culture, creating a positive and idealized vision of it. In an effort to maintain that positive outlook, people tend to make social comparisons with others. ethnic groups, as if it were a competition, looking at them from a more critical perspective and pejorative.

On the other hand, we have the Realistic Conflict Theory, which assumes that ethnocentrism occurs because of the perception or experience of a real conflict between two or more ethnic groups. This occurs when a culturally dominant group perceives new members from an alien culture as a threat.

• You may be interested in: "The 16 types of discrimination (and their causes)·

Consequences

At first glance, ethnocentrism may seem like a current that implies negative consequences. This is true to the extent that assuming that other cultures are inferior to one's own can motivate actions aimed at ending the outgroup. In fact, it is ethnocentric visions that are responsible for the great misfortunes of humanity, such as the Holocaust, the Crusades, or the removal of Native Americans from their land. In all these events, the dominant cultural group negatively highlighted alien cultural traits, thus justifying ethnic cleansing.

However, 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, could imply a process of cultural substitution and eventual elimination of the culture that was before.

In fact, it is also thanks to ethnocentric ideas, regardless of the continent, that the creation of a single culture worldwide has been avoided. Since the world has been globalizing, not a few 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 diverse cultures of the world have been cultivating ideas ethnocentric, in such a way that taking refuge in the idea that their culture is better allows even the smallest of them to continue existing.

Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism

Anthropology has tried to study all the cultures of the world in the most objective way possible.. This is why this science has fought to combat the ethnocentric vision, since it is not possible study a culture and everything that is related to it considering it as something inferior or more primitive. In addition, taking into account that it is common for the anthropologist to use participant observation to learn more about background of a culture, an ethnocentric bias would be a drag on your study, preventing you from learning about the ethnic group in question. question.

However, as we have already commented, ethnocentric behaviors, which are not racist or xenophobic, are a universal pattern. Everyone shows, to a greater or lesser extent, this bias, not being able to avoid thinking that their culture of origin is better and that 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's hard to be Japanese and not see Europeans as dirtier and messy.

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

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

Bibliographic 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. Actualidades en psicología, 20(107), 45-71.