Is ethnocentrism inherent to humans?

[SavannahCatGiannis]

Interesting discussion that just showed up in my "Recommends" on YouTube. This seems to have a left slant but it's still interesting, ignore the buzzwords though (the word "neoliberalism" makes me want to punch kittens) because it's worth it, and I figured it would make an interesting discussion here.

I agree with some of what they say, and I do not believe humans are inherently ethnocentric.

Tribal? Yes.

There is a difference between tribalism and ethnocentrism, as a race and ethnicity is also a tribe. They can be groups we consider ethnicity for example.

I'm white = my tribe
I'm Canadian = also my tribe
I'm Acadian = also my tribe

But also, tribes can cut across ethnic lines:

I'm a metal fan. Metal fans are notoriously tribalistic.

I'm a Montreal Canadiens fan (yeah, we lost, I know).

Sports fans are a perfect example of a non-ethnic tribe. I have met Montreal Canadiens fans of all races and ethnicities, from as far away from Montreal as South Africa (I'm not from Montreal either BTW), and actually sports have historically been used to bring communities together and ease ethnic tension. If you think about it, fans of different teams on either side of the stadium waving their foam fingers is no different from two tribes on a hillside waving their spears. It taps into the exact same tribal instinct that is innate in humans as ethnicity does, but it's not based on ethnicity.

So basically, if this was code, a tribe would be the class, race and ethnicity would be objects, but so could many other things.

 

[Kurdquistador]

yes humans are ethnocentric naturally

if food , water , and space would become scarce you would see how much sports would be a uniting factor

 

[SavannahCatGiannis]

yes humans are ethnocentric naturally

if food , water , and space would become scarce you would see how much sports would be a uniting factor

I think in that kind of situation it would be more community, though. For most people, that's people of the same ethnicity, but that may not always be the case. Like, probably you'd be more likely to stick with people in your own neighbourhood, and if you lived in a neighbourhood that was diverse, well, that would be your tribe.

Or, if the Apocalypse happens and the only people who survive are the people in an arena during a hockey game, yeah, it would probably go on the line of sports.

 

[Kurdquistador]

well i was not talking about myself .

if such a situation would happen i would try to make children getting water and food first regardless of ethnicity

but the human being just like every creature is tribal in the end . and for many people race will be the defining factor in the end

neighborhood , friends etc. yes . but at some point people will fight for their own race or even ethnicity

i guess there will be many who wont either . it depends on the individual too . but the problem is that there are too many assholes around . so the attempt to get a better solution and share everything will be abused by many people and IMO such people are more findable in certain ethnic groups .....call me racist but it is how it is

 

[SavannahCatGiannis]

well i was not talking about myself .

if such a situation would happen i would try to make children getting water and food first regardless of ethnicity

but the human being just like every creature is tribal in the end . and for many people race will be the defining factor in the end

neighborhood , friends etc. yes . but at some point people will fight for their own race or even ethnicity

i guess there will be many who wont either . it depends on the individual too . but the problem is that there are too many assholes around . so the attempt to get a better solution and share everything will be abused by many people and IMO such people are more findable in certain ethnic groups .....call me racist but it is how it is

I agree with you that people will likely go back to ethnicity but I don’t think that is what is innate to humans. Tribalism is and that is different, as you can make tribes out of anything.

I guess a way to explain it would be, if you know object oriented programming, tribe is a class and race and ethnicity are objects. But many other things can be objects that inherit attributes from the class “tribe”, including sports fandom, hometown, what type of music you listen to, etc.

High school cliques can be another example.

In a situation with scare resources or something, however, I think most people would choose a person of a different ethnicity they trust over someone of the same ethnicity they don’t know well… however, maybe in such a situation you might be more likely to maybe exchange goods with someone you don’t know of the same ethnicity (but maybe if they were wearing a jersey of your favourite sports team or a band you like, you might be more likely to negotiate too, not sure).

Also, being a metal fan, I can make friends anywhere in the world by meeting metal fans, and I’ll wear a band shirt when I travel… so I can be in an airport in like Vegas or Frankfurt or Johannesburg, it doesn’t matter I could walk by anyone else wearing a metal band shirt and there is kind of a smile and nod.

But then during COVID lockdowns, I only had people of my own ethnicity in my immediate “bubble”, the people I could be in contact with without wearing a mask of social distancing. The only exception to that was my immediate neighbours who are Punjabi, but they live right next to me. I spoke with my friends of other ethnicities over the phone or social media.

Basically, what I am trying to say is that, yes, I do agree with you that people will go back to ethnicity but I don’t think that is exactly what is innate, it’s just one of the more stronger ways in which we group people.

 

[SavannahCatGiannis]

You know, I was just remembering an experience that happened to me in Africa. I was in a store in Swakopmund, Namibia, and I heard a really thick accent from the Canadian province of Newfoundland coming out of the mouth of a dude working at a store. It caught me off guard because I was on the other side of the world and dude just looked like a typical Namibian.

It's a very distinct accent:

I was like "Hey! I know that accent!" and told him I was from Nova Scotia and we hit it off.

Turned out he was born and raised in Newfoundland but his parents were originally from Namibia. He studied tourism and hospitality at a community college in Newfoundland but because Canada has a short tourist season, he was reliant on government benefits during the off season and he was sick of having to do that, so he decided to go back to the old country where there are tourists visiting year round so work was more steady (at least before COVID it was).

Anyway, he was black, of Damara descent, and I'm white, of Acadian descent, but we had the commonality of having grown up on Canada's East Coast, that is a tribe we are both part of.