Ajay Kumar at 12:09, 27 August 2023

2023-08-27T12:09:37Z

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{{Short description|Form of extreme patriotism and nationalism}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
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'''Chauvinism''' is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior.<ref name="Global politics">{{Cite book|last=Heywood|first=Andrew|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/865491628|title=Global politics|date=2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1-137-34926-2|edition=2nd|location=Basingstoke|pages=171|oclc=865491628}}</ref> The ''[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]'' describes it as a form of excessive and unreasonable [[patriotism]] and [[nationalism]], a fervent faith in national excellence and glory.<ref name="Chauvinism">{{cite web|title=Chauvinism|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/chauvinism|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

In English, the word has also come to be used in some quarters{{since when|date=March 2023}} as shorthand for [[Chauvinism#Male chauvinism|male chauvinism]], a trend reflected in ''[[Merriam-Webster's Dictionary]]'', which, as of 2018, began its first example of use of the term ''chauvinism'' with "an attitude of superiority toward members of the opposite sex".<ref name="quickanddirtytips.com">{{cite web|title=15 Words You Didn't Realize Were Named After People|url=http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/15-words-you-didnt-realize-were-named-after-people|website=Grammar Girl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Chauvinism}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Columbia Guide to Standard American English |url=http://www.bartleby.com/68/24/1224.html |access-date=4 December 2008 |quote=''Chauvinism'' is "fanatical, boastful, unreasoning patriotism" and by extension "prejudiced belief or unreasoning pride in any group to which you belong." Lately, though, the compounds "male chauvinism" and "male chauvinist" have gained so much popularity that some users may no longer recall the patriotic and other more generalized meanings of the words.}}</ref>

==As nationalism==
According to legend, French soldier [[Nicolas Chauvin]] was badly wounded in the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and received a meager pension for his injuries. After [[Napoleon]] abdicated, Chauvin maintained his fanatical [[Bonapartism|Bonapartist]] belief in the messianic mission of [[First French Empire|Imperial France]], despite the unpopularity of this view under the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]]. His single-minded devotion to his cause, despite neglect by his faction and harassment by its enemies, started the use of the term.<ref name="Chauvinism" />

''Chauvinism'' has extended from its original use to include fanatical devotion and undue partiality to any group or cause to which one belongs, especially when such [[Partisan (political)|partisanship]] includes prejudice against or hostility toward outsiders or rival groups and persists even in the face of overwhelming opposition.<ref name="Chauvinism" /><ref name="quickanddirtytips.com" /><ref name="oed.com">{{cite web|title=Chauvinism|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/31017?redirectedFrom=chauvinism#eid|website=The Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref> This French quality finds its parallel in the English-language term ''[[jingoism]]'', which has retained the meaning of ''chauvinism'' strictly in its original sense; that is, an attitude of belligerent nationalism.<ref name="oed.com" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Jingoism|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/jingoism|access-date=22 June 2015|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Jingoism & Chauvinism|url=http://wordhistories.com/2013/06/15/jingoism-chauvinism/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026055627/http://wordhistories.com/2013/06/15/jingoism-chauvinism/|archive-date=26 October 2014|access-date=22 June 2015|website=Word Histories}}</ref>

In 1945, political theorist [[Hannah Arendt]] described the concept thus:
{{blockquote|Chauvinism is an almost natural product of the national concept in so far as it springs directly from the old idea of the "national mission". ... [A] nation's mission might be interpreted precisely as bringing its light to other, less fortunate peoples that, for whatever reason, have miraculously been left by history without a national mission. As long as this concept did not develop into the ideology of chauvinism and remained in the rather vague realm of national or even nationalistic pride, it frequently resulted in a high sense of responsibility for the welfare of backward people.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Arendt |first=Hannah |date=October 1945 |title=Imperialism, Nationalism, Chauvinism |journal= The Review of Politics |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=457 |doi=10.1017/s0034670500001649|s2cid=145337568 }}</ref>}}

In this sense, chauvinism is irrational, in that no one can claim their nation or ethnic group to be inherently superior to another.<ref name="Global politics" /> An example of a modern-day [[English nationalism|English nationalist]] extreme enough to be considered a chauvinist is [[Nigel Farage]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Donoghue |first1=Matthew |last2=Kuisma |first2=Mikko |date=2022-01-02 |title=Taking back control of the welfare state: Brexit, rational-imaginaries and welfare chauvinism |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2021.1917167 |journal=West European Politics |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=177–199 |doi=10.1080/01402382.2021.1917167 |s2cid=237714380 |issn=0140-2382}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-05 |title=Nigel Farage gin sparks Cornish controversy |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/05/nigel-farage-gin-sparks-cornish-controversy |access-date=2022-09-06 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alic |first=Liliana |date=2019 |title=NATIONALIST DISCOURSE AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT. THE CASE OF MARINE LE PEN AND NIGEL FARAGE |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=874308 |journal=Redefining Community in Intercultural Context |language=English |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=153–158 |issn=2285-2689}}</ref>

==Male chauvinism==
{{See also|Sexism|Misogyny|Androcentrism|Machismo|Patriarchy|Toxic masculinity|Hegemonic masculinity}}
Male chauvinism is the belief that [[men]] are superior to [[women]]. The first documented use of the phrase "male chauvinism" is in the 1935 [[Clifford Odets]] play ''[[Till the Day I Die]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mansbridge|first=Jane|author2=Katherine Flaster|title=Male Chauvinist, Feminist, Sexist, and Sexual Harassment: Different Trajectories in Feminist Linguistic Innovation|journal=American Speech|year=2005|volume=80|issue=3|page=261|doi=10.1215/00031283-80-3-256|citeseerx=10.1.1.103.8136}}</ref>

===In the workplace===
The balance of the [[workforce]] changed during [[World War II]]. As men entered or were conscripted into the military to fight in the war, women started replacing them. After the war ended, men returned home to find jobs in the workplace now occupied by women, which "threatened the self-esteem many men derive from their dominance over women in the family, the economy, and society at large."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why Trump's male chauvinism appeals to some voters more than others|url=http://theconversation.com/why-trumps-male-chauvinism-appeals-to-some-voters-more-than-others-67190|last=Cooke|first=Lynn Prince|website=The Conversation|language=en|access-date=2020-05-22}}</ref> Consequently, male chauvinism was on the rise, according to Cynthia B. Lloyd.<ref name="Lloyd, Cynthia B. 1975">Lloyd, Cynthia B., ed. ''Sex, Discrimination, and the Division of Labor''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975. Print.</ref>

Lloyd and [[Michael Korda]] have argued that as they integrated back into the workforce, men returned to predominate, holding positions of power while women worked as their secretaries, usually typing dictations and answering telephone calls. This division of labor was understood and expected, and women typically felt unable to challenge their position or male superiors, argue Korda and Lloyd.<ref name="Lloyd, Cynthia B. 1975"/><ref name="Korda, Michael 1973">[[Michael Korda]], ''Male Chauvinism! How It Works''. New York: Random House, 1973. Print.</ref>

===Causes===
Chauvinist assumptions are seen by some as a bias in the [[Thematic Apperception Test|TAT]] psychological personality test. Through cross-examinations, the TAT exhibits a tendency toward chauvinistic stimuli for its questions and has the "potential for unfavorable clinical evaluation" for women.<ref>Potkay, Charles R., Matthew R. Merrens. Sources of Male Chauvinism in the TAT. Journal of Personality Assessment, 39.5 (1975): 471-479. Web. 31 January 2012.</ref>

An often cited study done in 1976 by Sherwyn Woods, "Some Dynamics of Male Chauvinism", attempts to find the underlying causes of male chauvinism.
{{blockquote|Male chauvinism was studied in the [[psychoanalytic]] therapy of 11 men. It refers to the maintenance of fixed beliefs and attitudes of male superiority, associated with overt or covert depreciation of women. Challenging chauvinist attitudes often results in anxiety or other symptoms. It is frequently not investigated in psychotherapy because it is ego-syntonic, parallels cultural attitudes, and because therapists often share similar bias or neurotic conflict. Chauvinism was found to represent an attempt to ward off anxiety and shame arising from one or more of four prime sources: unresolved infantile strivings and regressive wishes, hostile envy of women, oedipal anxiety, and power and dependency conflicts related to masculine [[self-esteem]]. [[Mother]]s were more important than fathers in the development of male chauvinism, and resolution was sometimes associated with [[decompensation#Psychology|decompensation]] in wives.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Woods|first=Sherwyn M.|title=Some Dynamics of Male Chauvinism|journal=Archives of General Psychiatry|date=January 1976|volume=33|issue=1|pages=63–65|doi=10.1001/archpsyc.1976.01770010037007 |pmid=1247365}}</ref>}}Adam Jukes argues that a reason for male chauvinism is [[masculinity]] itself:<blockquote>For the vast majority of people all over the world, the mother is a primary carer...There's an asymmetry in the development of boys and girls. Infant boys have to learn how to be masculine. Girls don't. Masculinity is not in a state of crisis. Masculinity is a crisis. I don't believe [[misogyny]] is innate, but I believe it's inescapable because of the development of masculinity.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Men hating women: A look into the psychology of misogyny|url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/men-hating-women|website=British GQ|date=7 November 2018 |language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-22}}</ref></blockquote>

==Female chauvinism==
{{See also|Sexism|Misandry|Feminism|Gynocentrism|Internalized sexism|Marianismo|Matriarchy}}
Female chauvinism is the belief that women are superior to men.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brons|first=Lajos|title=On gender chauvinism|url=https://www.academia.edu/23436333|language=en}}</ref> Second-wave feminist [[Betty Friedan]] observed that "...the assumption that women have any moral or spiritual superiority as a class is [...] female chauvinism."<ref>Friedan, Betty. 1998. ''It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women's Movement''. Harvard University Press</ref> [[Ariel Levy (writer)|Ariel Levy]] used the term in her book ''[[Female Chauvinist Pigs]]'', in which she argues that many young women in the United States and beyond are replicating male chauvinism and older [[misogynist]] [[stereotype]]s.<ref>''Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture'', [[Ariel Levy (writer)|Ariel Levy]], 2006, {{ISBN|0-7432-8428-3}}</ref>

==See also==
{{col div|colwidth=30em}}
* [[American exceptionalism]]
* [[Blind nationalism]]
* [[Carbon chauvinism]]
* [[Great Russian chauvinism]]
* [[Han chauvinism]]
* [[Planetary chauvinism]]
* [[Sexism]]
* [[Social chauvinism]]
* [[Welfare chauvinism]]
* [[Zionism]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Huddy, Leonie; Del Ponte, Alessandro. (2019). [https://academic.oup.com/book/40547/chapter-abstract/347911349?redirectedFrom=fulltext ''National Identity, Pride, and Chauvinism—their Origins and Consequences for Globalization Attitudes''.] In ''[https://academic.oup.com/book/40547 Liberal Nationalism and Its Critics: Normative and Empirical Questions]'' (eds) Gina Gustavsson, David Miller. Oxford: Oxford Academic, pp. 38–56. {{doi|10.1093/oso/9780198842545.003.0003}}
* Tuchowski, Andrzej. (2017). ''Nationalism, Chauvinism and Racism as Reflected in European Musical Thought and in Compositions from the Interwar Period.'' Bern: Peter Lang. {{ISBN|978-3-631-78727-4}}.

== External links ==
{{Wiktionary}}

* [https://asen.ac.uk/ The Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism] (ASEN)
* ''[https://portal.research.lu.se/en/publications/nostalgic-nationalism-welfare-chauvinism-and-migration-anxieties- Nostalgic Nationalism, Welfare Chauvinism, and Migration Anxieties in Central and Eastern Europe]'' at the [https://portal.research.lu.se/en/ Lund University Research Portal].
{{EB1911 poster|Chauvinism}}

{{Nationalism}}
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[[Category:Chauvinism| ]]
[[Category:Prejudices]]
[[Category:Political ideologies]]
[[Category:Political spectrum]]
[[Category:Political theories]]
[[Category:Ethnic supremacy]]
[[Category:Extremism]]
[[Category:Neo-Nazism]]
[[Category:Anti-intellectualism]]
[[Category:Barriers to critical thinking]]

Chauvinism - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 12:09, 27 August 2023