Ethnocentrism Origins of the concept and its study The term ethnocentrism was created by William G.

Sumner, upon observing the tend ency for people to differentiate between the in-group and others. He defined it as "the technical name for the view of things in which one's own group is the ce nter of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it."[4 ] He further characterized it as often leading to pride, vanity, beliefs of one' s own group's superiority, and contempt of outsiders.[5] Robert K. Merton commen ts that Sumner's additional characterization robbed the concept of some analytic al power because, Merton argues, centrality and superiority are often correlated , but need to be kept analytically distinct.[4] Anthropologists such as Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski argued that any huma n science had to transcend the ethnocentrism of the scientist. Both urged anthro pologists to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in order to overcome their ethnocent rism. Boas developed the principle of cultural relativism and Malinowski develop ed the theory of functionalism as guides for producing non-ethnocentric studies of different cultures. The books The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Mel anesia, by Bronis?aw Malinowski, Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict, and Comin g of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead (two of Boas's students) are classic examples of anti-ethnocentric anthropology.

Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of o ne's own culture.[1][page needed] The ethnocentric individual will judge other g roups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs and religion. These ethnic distincti ons and subdivisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.[ 2] Ethnocentrism may be overt or subtle, and while it is considered a natural pr oclivity of human psychology, it has developed a generally negative connotation. [