Ethnocentrism And Xenophobia

What is Ethnocentrism And What is Xenophobia

Ethnocentrism Definition:

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to judge other groups according to the standards, behaviours and customs of one’s own group. Given the automatic influence of once own culture, when people compare their culture to the others, they often conclude that their own group is superior.

The term ethnocentrism was coined by William G. Sumner, upon observing the tendency for people to differentiate between the ingroup and others. He described it as often leading to pride, vanity, beliefs of one's own group's superiority, and contempt of outsiders.

Xenophobia Definition:

An even more extreme reaction is xenophobia a fear of stranger and foreigners. Clearly, business people who take these views are not likely to communicate successfully across cultures.

Examples:

When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the federal government responded by rounding Japanese Americans up and forcing them into internment camps. At the time, it was thought that the U.S. government made this move to prevent any Japanese Americans who remained loyal to the Japanese Empire from plotting further attacks against the United States. In the 21st century, however, historians largely agree that xenophobia and racism were responsible for this decision. That’s not only because immigrants from other Western countries that were foes of the U.S. in World War II weren’t interned on a mass scale but also because the federal government never found evidence that Japanese Americans engaged in espionage during this time. Some young Japanese-American men protested the way that the U.S. government had infringed upon their civil rights. As a result, they refused to join the military to prove their loyalty to the country and declined to forswear allegiance to Japan. Given this, they received the name the “No-No Boys” and were ostracized in their community.