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Ethnocentrism

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

  • 15 Accesses

Synonyms

Chauvinism; Culturalism; Parochialism; Sociocentrism

Definition

Ethnocentrism, also known as “ethnocentricity,” means that one’s concepts, beliefs, or values are strongly rooted in a particular cultural tradition. Commonly, this is also associated with the idea of believing one’s culture to be superior to others. The etymology does not imply this, though, and it is important to distinguish ethnocentrism from beliefs about the relative goodness of one’s own culture. Ethnocentric bias can be cognitive or affective, conscious or unconscious, and it may or may not entail feelings of superiority. It can refer to ignorance of other cultural perspectives, or to deliberate disparagement of them. By default, it refers to the feelings, thoughts, or discourses of collectivities such as regions, nations, or religions. But it can also refer to personal character traits or attitudes, or to more specific personal habits or beliefs. The culture of organizations, sports, or disciplines can...

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References

  • Brown, D. E. (1991). Human Universals. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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  • Kroeber, A. (1923). Anthropology. New York: Harcourt.

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  • Renteln, A. D. (2004). The Cultural Defense. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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  • Sumner, W. G. (1906). Folkways. New York: Ginn.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Neil Thin

Authors
  1. Neil Thin
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Correspondence to Neil Thin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy

    Filomena Maggino

Section Editor information

  1. Univeristy of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Antonino Galati

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Thin, N. (2022). Ethnocentrism. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_926-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_926-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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