Each of us tend to think of ourself as the center of the universe and are prone to judge others against ourself. Sometimes the criterion used is not based on the person we are but an idealized version of ourself. This egocentric view extends out to include an ethnic or cultural group to which one belongs: ethnocentrism.

It is only human nature to assume that any group to which we belong is the standard against which all other groups should rightfully be compared. But ethnocentrism like racism, although natural, is neither morally correct nor logical. William G. Sumner came up with the term to explain the phenomenon of differentiating between “us and them”.  

Ethnocentrism is a hidden prejudice that many are not aware exists. Examples of ethnocentric statements:

The English driving on the “wrong” side of the road

People in those countries eat “weird” food.

Those people were “savages”; they are scantly clothed.

Stupid immigrant, he has a limited vocabulary and doesn’t use proper grammar. (Try conversing with him in his native language and see who sounds stupid!)

Ethnocentrism may have at one time served a purpose. It could have built unity in a small community; when tribes were small a wariness of strangers who had different ways and a sense of superiority for ones own group would be a necessity for survival. But much of the world’s ills can be traced to the prejudices resulting from ethnocentrism. It was this type of thinking that made Europeans in the 1600s upon visiting Africa to see the inhabitants as less then human. It was this same thinking that caused the Europeans and later Americans to think of the Native Americans in the same way.  

There is evidence that ethnocentrism has to some extent a biological base. According to a paper found in a 2011 issue of PNAS, “oxytocin creates inter-group bias because oxytocin motivates in-group favoritism and, to a lesser extent, out-group derogation.” But this can and does change with positive association with other cultures. The more groups one is able to feel an association with the less rigid one’s cultural viewpoints become. This is especially true with children.

An argument can be made that ethnocentrism is neither a bad nor a good thing. It is rather a component of human nature that needs to be taken into account on an individual level as well as a societal level. When a situation is examined in light of ethnocentrism, a determination can be made if the effects of a culturally based viewpoint are helpful or hurtful to producing a positive outcome.