Ethnocentricism and multi-culturalism

Ethnocentricism is connected with a term ethnic. Ethnic is a descriptive label for a group, implicitly defined in terms of racial or national characteristics, where the main emphasis falls on cultural practices and beliefs. The concept ethnic can be usefully applied to minorities which either have been set apart or have desired separation according to distinct cultural attitudes and traditions.

On the other hand, we do not usually refer to ‘ethnic majorities’ associated with national groupings and identities – is it possible, for example, to argue for an ‘ethnic quality’ to the English in England? It would seem that such a quaint label can only be attached to nation-groups when located abroad, and furthermore when those groups do not constitute part of a ruling elite. For example, there may be an ‘ethnic’ description of Hispanics in New York – but not of the English in India.

The popularity of the term belies its vagueness – note how many overlaps can be counted between an ethnic grouping and religion, colour (but not gender), or nationality. In some ways it has found favour with politicians and academics who search for more delicate ways of describing groups who differ from the nation state and who have some shared identity (either secured for themselves, or with such cultural values placed upon them): it may be more convenient (if mystifying), for example, to say ‘London’s ethnic groups’ than ‘Pakistani, Indians, West Indian and Chinese living in London’.

Ethnocentricism refers more to the process of looking inwards to the values, beliefs and histories of one’s own group, and which may be seen as a form of insularity by outsiders. Ethnocentric tendencies have often been linked with persecution, and especially racismat levels of both oppressor and victim.

For the persecutor, ethnocentrism leads to the valuing of national identity and to the seeing of different cultures or communities located within that nation as inferior, a threat, or a weakness. The targets of what Adorno call such authoritarian personalities may also be characterized by ethnocentrism, but with a preservation of culture which outsiders view as foreign. In essence, the bigot views insularity as a snub, whilst forgetting that his or her own discrimination and insularity fosters alienation and distrust – or simply a lack of opportunity to communicate.

The development of ethnic values can therefore be seen either as a form of self-protection, or as a positive move for the acceptance of people within society. The importance of historical process cannot be underplayed here – what may be an ethnic group for today was an ‘immigrant problem’ of yesterday. Indeed, it might even be argued that the search for ‘authentic’ ethnic identity and experience lies at the heart of some forms of modern tourism.

Multi-culturalism isthe recognition and study of societies as comprising distinct but related cultural traditions and practices; often associated with the different ethnic components of the overall social formation. It is also the recognition of societies as multi-cultural entails two consequences.

First, it entails a rethinking of dominant assumptions about the unity of a culture. ‘Britishness’ has to be reworked to take account of Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Asian, African, Caribbean, Chinese, Middle Eastern and other settled ethnic groups. Such a reworking would not take the form of attempts to ‘integrate’ such groups, since the notion of integration implies that the groups in question are transformed into indistinguishable ‘members’ of the dominant culture without any concomitant adjustments being made to that dominant culture. This is the effect of social policies of incorporation, which multi-cultural analysts have identified as hegemonic.

Second, multi-culturalism entails a rethinking of dominant assumptions about the plurality or diversity of a culture. It is not sufficient simply to recognize that there are lots of different types of people and cultural activity, since this neglects the unequal powerrelations between such different groups. Multi-cultural analysis tries to account for different cultural practices in terms of the relations between more or less powerful cultures, rather than as instances of more or less exotic traditions.