ethnocentrism

American  

[eth-noh-sen-triz-uhm] / ˌɛθ noʊˈsɛn trɪz əm /

noun

1. Sociology. the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture.

2. a tendency to view other ethnic or cultural groups from the perspective of one's own.

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ethnocentrism British  

/ ˌɛθnəʊˈsɛnˌtrɪzəm /

noun

1. belief in the intrinsic superiority of the nation, culture, or group to which one belongs, often accompanied by feelings of dislike for other groups

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ethnocentrism Cultural  

1. The belief that one's own culture is superior to all others and is the standard by which all other cultures should be measured.

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Early social scientists in the nineteenth century operated from an ethnocentric point of view. So-called primitive tribes, for example, were studied by anthropologists to illustrate how human civilization had progressed from “savage” customs toward the accomplishments of Western industrial society.

Other Word Forms

• ethnocentric adjective
• ethnocentrically adverb
• ethnocentricity noun

Etymology

Origin of ethnocentrism

First recorded in 1905–10; ethno- + cent(e)r + -ism

Explanation

If you refused to bow when greeting a Japanese friend, insisting on shaking hands instead, you'd be displaying your ethnocentrism, or your belief that your own culture is superior to others. Anyone who judges people or traditions based on his own cultural standards is guilty of ethnocentrism. It means believing that the way you're used to doing things is the only right way to do them, and that people or cultures that do things differently are wrong. Ethnocentrism comes from the Greek ethno, or "people" and centric, "center;" so when you put your own people, or culture, at the center of the world, you're letting your ethnocentrism show.

Example Sentences

That’s because, setting ethnocentrism aside, there’s simply no equivalent sports feat, during regular season competition, to scoring a goal in the EPL.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 15, 2023

That is followed by Ethnoaesthetics, a word he coined to describe the resistance to cultural ethnocentrism.

From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2022

“The vision of the world expressed in his program illustrates an upper-middle-class ethnocentrism that sometimes borders on naïveté,” the historian Gérard Noiriel told Le Monde.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 24, 2019

You don’t have to proffer accusations of ethnocentrism or Islamophobia to find such cultural arguments dissatisfying.

From Washington Post • Apr. 21, 2016

For our present purpose the most important fact is that ethnocentrism leads a people to exaggerate and intensify everything in their own folkways which is peculiar and which differentiates them from others.

From Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals by Sumner, William Graham