chauvinism
Chauvinism [ ʃovi'nɪsmʊs ] is the belief in the superiority of one's own group .
Chauvinism in the original sense is an often aggressive nationalism in which members of a nation feel superior to people of other nations and devalue them because of their belonging to it.
Word origin
The word derives from the name of the legendary , exaggeratedly patriotic recruit Nicolas Chauvin , who served in the army of Napoléon Bonaparte and is said to have been wounded 17 times . His exaggerated idealism was immortalized in the figure of Nicolas Chauvin in the French comedy La Cocarde tricolore (1831, Paris ) by the Cogniard brothers and caricatured in numerous vaudevilles , giving birth to the term chauvinism.
State chauvinism
For various reasons, chauvinism can not only dominate public opinion , but can also be pursued as political and, in particular, state propaganda . It not infrequently results in forms of national hatred (for example in the 19th and 20th centuries in the so-called Franco-German hereditary enmity ).
requirements
A crisis of national self-confidence is seen as a prerequisite for the emergence of radical nationalism in a nation-state. This includes an extraordinary external threat or danger to the very existence of the nation, or an event that has violated national self-esteem, such as military , economic or political defeat.
According to the sociologist Eugen Lemberg , the danger for national existence always arises when the integrative power for the continued existence of the nation disappears, because it then responds to the danger of disintegration with radical nationalism. As evidence, he cites German nationalism after 1918 in the Weimar Republic due to the military defeat in the First World War .
This presented himself in a radical form as a renewer of the nation and looked for guilty parties for the end of the war. The military collapse led to the reinterpretation of the war defeat as "the end of the monarchical system", while the people would not have experienced any defeat (see stab in the back legend ). Therefore, the collapse led to the emphasis on the “cultural mission” of the Germans, whereby the belief in the nation should make the rise again possible. This also led to the conscious emphasis on the cultural differences compared to France , which also includes the political aspect of the “ dictate of Versailles ”.
Roots and Organizations
The exaggerated form of nationalism is a characteristic of the so-called belated nations, in which there is a longer period of time between the Risorgimento , i.e. the idea of constituting oneself as a nation, and the actual formation of the nation state, for example 65 years on the territory of the German Reich . This leads to a large temporal distance between idea and realization, whereby earlier ideas are discarded, radicalized and falsified. They can become more popular and emotional, which increases the risk of instrumentalizing control (= propaganda). In this way, feelings of inferiority of the collective memory are compensated in an aggressive, exaggerated form.
Among the other requirements is, for example, the absolute establishment of the nation, which can also be supported by propaganda. The individual will should take a back seat to the so-called popular will. Power elites and their affiliated politicians often use radical nationalism to better achieve goals aimed at the exercise of power. Hate against foreign peoples is mostly propagated as a necessity .
In the German Empire, for example, there were numerous “national associations” that followed on from earlier traditions. The Pan-German Association is the most important representative here. The anti- parliamentary and anti- socialist associations engaged in active political agitation , which in the (self-defined and understood exclusively) “national interest” demanded, among other things, the colonial expansion of the empire as part of a race against England and France. In order to achieve these goals, the “national interest” was strengthened by creating images of the enemy, such as social democrats and Jews in particular , but also supporters of other ideologies .
Thus, in radical nationalism, the emancipatory aspect of the Risorgimento is pushed back.
genealogy
The aspect of biological togetherness, of social Darwinism , of a people is a special characteristic of radical nationalism, as it deepens the previous emotional ties in the form of a national consciousness . Relationships are increased from one's own family and clan to a much larger group. A relationship is now assumed between this increased ethnic origin and other cultural values, which creates a higher degree of identification - quasi the kinship with the entire people.
This close, emotional and ethnic bond is called natural within the propaganda in radical nationalism, which denies the naturalness of other criteria - and thus at the same time prevents the objective evaluation of all nations.
Other forms
Male chauvinism
The term male chauvinism ( English for “male chauvinism”; colloquially Chauvi for a chauvinist ) was coined by the women's movement in the 1970s and used in an intensified form as the swear word “MCP” ( male chauvinist pig ). It describes men who are patriarchal or who behave in this way who believe that they can derive a claim to superiority over women solely on the basis of their gender (see also machism ). Pure misogyny is known as misogyny . Androcentrism, on the other hand, describes a socially / supra-individually practiced way of thinking, viewing and orienting (e.g. by institutions), according to which a superiority of masculinity is not directly asserted, but a masculinity- oriented perspective is unquestioned in the center. What is socially ascribed to the “ feminine ”, on the other hand, is perceived as a deviation from the supposedly normal, until this - similar to other “-centrisms” - first becomes indirect, concealed and ultimately also practically inferior.
Social chauvinism
The term social chauvinism originally referred to national chauvinism within social democratic or socialist parties . In contemporary usage, the term also aims at class, milieu or class-related superiority thinking ( classism ).
Religious chauvinism
Religious chauvinists believe in the superiority of their religion and, as members of their religion, feel superior to members of other religions.
Language chauvinism
Language chauvinism as a characteristic is correspondingly the extreme devaluation of the languages of other areas or countries combined with the extreme appreciation of one's own language. This can also lead to the suppression or even elimination of indigenous languages ( annexation , colonialism ).
Linguistic chauvinism also gains importance in the so-called "national rebirth" in the context of ethnogenesis , which refers to a common language and aims to establish a language nation (see also: cultural nation ). Language chauvinism is often accompanied by language cleansing and political controversies about changing the previous status as a linguistic minority (contact language).
See also
literature
- Friederike Habermann : The invisible tropical helmet. How colonial thinking still rules our heads , thinkOya, Klein Jasedow 2013, ISBN 978-3-927369-75-7 .
- Gottfried Mergner and Ansgar Häfner (eds.): The African in German children's and young people's books: Investigations into racist stereotyping in German children's and young people's books from the Enlightenment to National Socialism . 2nd edition, results, Hamburg 1989, ISBN 3-925622-54-3 .
- Regula Renschler and Roy Preiswerk (eds.): The poison of the early years. Racism in youth literature , Lenos / Z-Verlag, Basel 1981, ISBN 978-3-85787-089-7 .
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Felix von Eckardt , for example, comments in his autobiography A messy life (Düsseldorf 1967, p. 387) on his impression while driving through Moscow : “I think the Russians should get rid of the Cyrillic script . That would contribute more to understanding with the West than many nice speeches. It is depressing for Western Europeans and for other hundred million inhabitants of the world not even being able to read a street sign. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nicolas Chauvin, Derivation of chauvinism , Encyclopædia Britannica .
- ↑ Chauvi , Duden
- ↑ male chauvinist pig on dictionary.com.
- ↑ Male chauvinism , in: Bonnie G. Smith (Ed.): The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Volume 4. Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 153 f.