Ethnocentrism

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Ethnocentrism is a primarily psychological term , but also used in a wide variety of social and political science studies, which describes the bias of an individual towards groups that are foreign to him . The phenomenon is based on the belief that one's own behavior patterns and those of the ethnic group to which one belongs are always normal, natural, good, beautiful or important. Against this normative standard, strangers - whose culture is clearly different - can be assessed as wild, inhuman, disgusting or irrational. One speaks therefore of the “self-centeredness of a group”; The characteristics of the ingroup are assumed as a basis for evaluation and are considered to be superior to those of outgroups. This can u. a. relate to culture, way of life, lifestyle, worldview, religion. The term “ethnocentrism” does not initially refer to a nation or race in the sense of the obsolete race theory , but the relationship of the individual to his ethnic group; Ethnocentrism, however, can form the basis for behavior that is based on nationalism or racism .

Studies in sociology , psychology, social psychology , ethnology or anthropology , but also in cultural history , e.g. B. also with regard to mythology , analyze to what extent people create and use such categories and evaluations. In this context there are also diverse studies of cross- cultural social research .

Origin of the term

The term is traced back to the US sociologist William Graham Sumner , who defined "ethnocentrism" in his book Folkways (1906):

"Ethnocentrism is the technical term for that view of things in which one's own group is the focus of everything and all others are measured and evaluated with reference to it."

Even Sumner did not limit the use of the term “ethnocentrism” to the level of “peoples”, but referred the term very comprehensively to social groups to which a person assigns himself: “Every group thinks its ways of life [folkways] are the right ones . "

He assigned the function of ethnocentrism to stabilize the ingroup vis-à-vis the outgroup , because it strengthens the particular peculiarity of the customs and thereby the group membership in the demarcation from others. He assessed this function positively, as he assumed that groups would be in competition in the sense of social Darwinism .

Occur

The tendency towards ethnocentrism is inherent in the universal conditions of human perceptual behavior; This is what theories of social cognition claim, such as the theory of social comparison ( reference group theory ). In social biology and evolutionary theory , positive (species-preserving) functions of ethnocentrism are assumed.

The negative consequences for the person in question ( e.g. distortions of perception or learning obstacles) as well as socially and / or politically undesirable consequential costs are the focus of consideration, especially in the area of ​​social prejudice , self-fulfilling prophecy and social conflicts , especially when it comes to problems in Dealing with intercultural contacts is possible. Here ethnocentrism is related to manifestations of racism, nationalism, segregation or xenophobia .

Ethnocentrism is an essential methodological point of view for assessing the scientific quality in ethnological research. Cultural anthropologists see it as a source of possible distortions of perception and errors of judgment on the part of research staff, especially when doing field research in foreign cultures . Franz Boas countered ethnocentrism with the thesis of cultural relativism , Bronisław Malinowski with the perspective of functionalism .

The criminal sociologist Howard S. Becker observed a “dual ethic” that made a sharp distinction between the norms for the ingroup and those for the outgroups.

Counter-concepts

In American cultural anthropology , its pioneer Franz Boas propagated "intercultural tolerance as a counterweight" to ethnocentrism.

Recently, under the heading “ Interculturality ” based on the theories of Alfred Schütz and Thomas Luckmann , Erving Goffman , Jan Assmann u. a. Procedures worked out to facilitate understanding between people from different cultures . Intercultural business communication applies these techniques to corporate matters. Concepts for intercultural learning are always essential . The hope of long-term conflict avoidance between people from different cultures, especially in schools, rests on the implementation of such concepts. The critical recognition and acceptance of one's inevitable ethnocentrism ("enlightened ethnocentrism") as well as learning intercultural competence should help to make living together in a multicultural society bearable. According to Milton Bennett, when acquiring intercultural competence, one first goes through the phases of ethnocentrism, which then turns into ethnorelativism.

literature

  • Dieter Fuchs, Jürgen Gerhards and Edeltraud Roller: We and the others. Ethnocentrism in the twelve countries of the European Community . In: Cologne journal for sociology and social psychology , 1993, No. 45, pp. 238-253.
  • David Theo Goldberg: Ethnocentrism . In: Maryanne Cline Horowitz (Ed.): New Dictionary of the History of Ideas . Thomson Gale, New York et al. a. 2005, Vol. 2, 722-725.
  • Kien Nghi Ha: Ethnicity and Migration Reloaded. Cultural Identity, Difference and Hybridity in the Post-Colonial Discourse. Revised and exp. New edition, Westphalian steam boat / WVB 1999/2004. ISBN 3-86573-009-4 .
  • Georg Hansen: ethnicity, ethnocentrism, ethnicity. In: Cornelia Schmalz-Jacobson , Georg Hansen (Hrsg.): Ethnic minorities in the Federal Republic of Germany. A lexicon. Munich 1995.
  • V. Reynolds, VSE Falger, I. Vine (Eds.): The Sociobiology of Ethnocentrism: Evolutionary Dimensions of Xenophobia, Discrimination, Racism, and Nationalism . Croom Helm, London 1987.
  • Ulrich Rosar: Ethnocentrism in Germany. A comparative analysis. 1980 to 1996 . (PDF; 55 kB) Westdeutscher Verlag 2001, ISBN 3-531-13654-2 .
  • William Graham Sumner: Folkways. A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals. University of Michigan, 1906. Digitized

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. See for example James G. Kellas: The Politics of Nationalism and Ethnicity . 2nd Edition. MacMillan, London 1998, p. 6 ( available from Google Books ): “Ethnocentrism is basically a psychological term, although it is also used generally in the study of society and politics… It is essentially concerned with an individual's psychological biases towards his / her ethnic group, and against other ethnic groups. "
  2. Marvin Harris: Cultural Anthropology - A Textbook. From the American by Sylvia M. Schomburg-Scherff. Campus, Frankfurt / New York 1989, ISBN 3-593-33976-5 . P. 22.
  3. Ulrich Schneckener: Ethnocentrism . In: Dieter Nohlen (Ed.): Lexicon of Politics . Volume 7 (Political Terms). CH Beck, Munich 1992ff, 156: “Technical term that describes the self-centeredness of a group, especially in ethnic, religious and cultural terms.” James G. Kellas: The Politics of Nationalism and Ethnicity . 2nd Edition. MacMillan, London 1998, p. 6: "Favorable attitudes are held about the 'ingroup' ... and unfavorable ones about the 'outgroup'".
  4. See e.g. B. Ethnocentrism . In: Klaus Schubert, Martina Klein: Das Politiklexikon . 4th edition. Dietz, Bonn 2006. "A political attitude that puts the values ​​(e.g. religion) and the peculiarities (e.g. skin color) of one's own ethnic group (ethnic group) above those of other peoples or uses them as a basis for evaluation."
  5. Cf. on the latter e.g. B. Ulrich Schneckener: Ethnocentrism . In: Dieter Nohlen (Ed.): Lexicon of Politics . Volume 7 (Political Terms). CH Beck, Munich 1992 ff., P. 156: “The preferred self-perception is seen as constitutive for group formation processes, i. d. As a rule, the characteristics and skills of the ingroup are rated as "more valuable" than those of outgroups ”.
  6. See e.g. B. David Theo Goldberg: Ethnocentrism , in: Maryanne Cline Horowitz (Ed.): New Dictionary of the History of Ideas , Thomson Gale, New York u. a. 2005, Volume 2, pp. 722-725, here 722: "the disposition to read the rest of the world, those of different cultural traditions, from inside the conceptual scheme of one's own ethnocultural group. The ethnocentric attitude assumes that one's own ethnic Weltanschauung (worldview) is the only one from which other customs, practices, and habits can be understood and judged. ”See also the article Ethnocentrism . In: Wolfgang J. Koschnik: Standard dictionary for the social sciences . Volume 2 / Part 1 A – L. KG Saur, Munich / London / New York, Paris 1992. ISBN 3-598-10527-4 . P. 279.
  7. See for example James G. Kellas: The Politics of Nationalism and Ethnicity . 2nd Edition. MacMillan, London 1998, p. 6: “Ethnocentrism… can be related to 'nationalism' and racism ', but its focus is strictly on the individual's relationship with an ethnic group rather than with a' nation 'or a' race '. Ethnocentrism gives a general and perhaps even universal basis for a type of behavior which also underlies nationalism and racism. "
  8. See e.g. BW Rudolph: Ethnocentrism , in: Historical Dictionary of Philosophy , Volume 2, p. 812: “The E. was discussed explicitly and implicitly in various theoretical contexts of sociology, psychology (especially social psychology) and ethnology” with reference on DT Campbell, RL Levine: Propositions about Ethnocentrism from social science theories , Chicago 1965.
  9. ^ William Graham Sumner: Folkways. A study of the sociological importance of usages, manners, customs, mores, and morals . Ginn and Company, Boston / New York a. a. 1906. Reprint Cosimo, New York 2007, p. 13: "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." ( Visible at Google Books )
  10. ^ William Graham Sumner: Folkways. A study of the sociological importance of usages, manners, customs, mores, and morals . Ginn and Company, Boston / New York a. a. 1906. Reprint Cosimo, New York 2007, p. 12 f: "Each group thinks its own folkways the only right ones."
  11. ^ Richard Hofstadter : William Graham Sumner, Social Darwinist . In: The New England Quarterly , 14/3 (1941), pp. 457-477, JSTOR 360486 .
  12. ^ Donald T. Campbell : Variation and selective retention in socio-cultural evolution. In: Herbert R. Barringer, George I. Blanksten, Raymond W. Mack (Eds.): Social change in developing areas: A reinterpretation of evolutionary theory. Schenkman, Cambridge MA 1965, pp. 19-49. Chad Joseph McEvoy: A Consideration of the Sociobiological Dimensions of Human Xenophobia and Ethnocentrism. 1995.
  13. Jiri Spendlingwimmer: The negative effects of ethnocentrism and their avoidance . (2008) Diploma thesis, University of Vienna.
  14. cf. Wolfgang Rudolph : Ethnocentrism. In: Historical Dictionary of Philosophy . Volume 2, p. 812, with reference to Franz Boas: The mind of primitive man. New York 1911, pp. 208 f.
  15. Milton Bennett: Towards Ethnorelativism: A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. In: R. Paige (Ed.): Education for the Intercultural Experience . Intercultural Press, Yarmouth 1993, pp. 21-71 .