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.
It can be described as a form of extreme
patriotism
Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...
and
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
, a fervent faith in national excellence and glory.
In English, the word has come to be used in some quarters as shorthand for
male chauvinism
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. It can be described as a form of extreme patriotism ...
, a trend reflected in ''
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
'', which, as of 2018, begins its first example of use of the term ''chauvinism'' with "an attitude of superiority toward members of the opposite sex".
As nationalism
According to legend, French soldier
Nicolas Chauvin
Nicolas Chauvin () is a legendary, possibly apocryphal or fictional French soldier and patriot who is supposed to have served in the First Army of the French Republic and later in ''La Grande Armée'' of Napoleon. His name is the eponym of ''chau ...
was badly wounded in the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
and received a meager pension for his injuries. After
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
abdicated, Chauvin maintained his fanatical
Bonapartist
Bonapartism (french: Bonapartisme) is the political ideology supervening from Napoleon Bonaparte and his followers and successors. The term was used to refer to people who hoped to restore the House of Bonaparte and its style of government. In thi ...
belief in the messianic mission of Imperial France, despite the unpopularity of this view under the
Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to:
France under the House of Bourbon:
* Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815)
Spain under the Spanish Bourbons:
* ...
. His single-minded devotion to his cause, despite neglect by his faction and harassment by its enemies, started the use of the term.
''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
partisanship
A partisan is a committed member of a political party or army. In multi-party systems, the term is used for persons who strongly support their party's policies and are reluctant to compromise with political opponents. A political partisan is no ...
includes prejudice against or hostility toward outsiders or rival groups and persists even in the face of overwhelming opposition.
This French quality finds its parallel in the English-language term ''
jingoism
Jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national inte ...
'', which has retained the meaning of ''chauvinism'' strictly in its original sense; that is, an attitude of belligerent nationalism.
In 1945, political theorist
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century.
Arendt was born ...
described the concept thus:
In this sense, chauvinism is irrational, in that no one can claim their nation or ethnic group to be inherently superior to another.
An example of a modern-day
English nationalist
English nationalism is a nationalism that asserts that the English are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of English people. In a general sense, it comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for English c ...
extreme enough to be considered a chauvinist is
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...
.
Male chauvinism
Male chauvinism is the belief that
men
A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chrom ...
are superior to
women
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
. The first documented use of the phrase "male chauvinism" is in the 1935
Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withdra ...
play ''
Till the Day I Die
''Till the Day I Die'' is a play by Clifford Odets performed on Broadway in 1935.
Description
The play is a seven-scene drama written by Clifford Odets. It was originally written as a piece to accompany ''Waiting for Lefty''.
Productions
It w ...
''.
In the workplace
The balance of the
workforce
The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the Pooling (resource management), pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single types of companies, company or ...
changed during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. 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." Consequently, male chauvinism was on the rise, according to Cynthia B. Lloyd.
[Lloyd, Cynthia B., ed. ''Sex, Discrimination, and the Division of Labor''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1975. Print.]
Lloyd and
Michael Korda
Michael Korda (born 8 October 1933) is an English-born writer and novelist who was editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster in New York City.
Early years
Born in London, Michael Korda is the son of English actress Gertrude Musgrove and the Hungarian ...
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.
Michael Korda
Michael Korda (born 8 October 1933) is an English-born writer and novelist who was editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster in New York City.
Early years
Born in London, Michael Korda is the son of English actress Gertrude Musgrove and the Hungarian ...
, ''Male Chauvinism! How It Works''. New York: Random House, 1973. Print.
Causes
Chauvinist assumptions are seen by some as a bias in the
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.
An often cited study done in 1976 by Sherwyn Woods, Some Dynamics of Male Chauvinism, attempts to find the underlying causes of male chauvinism.
Adam Jukes argues that a reason for male chauvinism is
masculinity
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors con ...
itself:
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
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
is innate, but I believe it’s inescapable because of the development of masculinity.
Female chauvinism
Female chauvinism is the belief that women are superior to men. Second-wave feminist
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
observed that "...the assumption that women have any moral or spiritual superiority as a class is
..female chauvinism."
Ariel Levy used the term in her book ''
Female Chauvinist Pigs
''Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture'' is a 2005 book by Ariel Levy (journalist), Ariel Levy that critiques the highly sexualized culture of the United States, American culture in which women are sexual objectification, ...
'', in which she argues that many young women in the United States and beyond are replicating male chauvinism and older
misogynist
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
stereotype
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
s.
[''Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture'', Ariel Levy, 2006, ]
See also
*
American exceptionalism
American exceptionalism is the belief that the United States is inherently different from other nations.[Avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...](_blank)
*
Blind nationalism
*
Carbon chauvinism
Carbon chauvinism is a neologism meant to disparage the assumption that the chemical processes of hypothetical extraterrestrial life must be constructed primarily from carbon (organic compounds) because as far as we know, carbon's chemical and t ...
*
Great Russian chauvinism Great Russian chauvinism (russian: Великорусский шовинизм) is a term defined by the early Soviet government officials, most notably Vladimir Lenin to describe an ideology of the "dominant exploiting classes of the nation, holdin ...
*
Han chauvinism
Han Chinese chauvinism is a political ideology that speaks out for the ethnic Han Chinese people and its uniqueness throughout history. Technically, it is slightly different from Chinese chauvinism, as it refers only to Han Chinese ethnicity wh ...
*
National symbol
A national symbol is a symbol of any entity considering and manifesting itself to the world as a national community: the sovereign states but also nations and countries in a state of colonial or other dependence, federal integration, or even an ...
ism
*
Planetary chauvinism
Planetary chauvinism is a term to describe a commonly held belief that human society will always be planet-based (even if extended beyond Earth), and overlooks or ignores the potential benefits of space-based living. It's thought to be coined b ...
*
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
*
Sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
*
Social chauvinism
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
*
Supremacism
Supremacism is the belief that a certain group of people is superior to all others. The supposed superior people can be defined by age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, language, social class, ideology, nation, culture, ...
*
Welfare chauvinism
Welfare chauvinism or welfare state nationalism is the political notion that welfare benefits should be restricted to certain groups, particularly to the natives of a country as opposed to immigrants. It is used as an argumentation strategy by r ...
References
Further reading
Huddy, Leonie; Del Ponte, Alessandro. (2019)
''National Identity, Pride, and Chauvinism—their Origins and Consequences for Globalization Attitudes''.In
Liberal Nationalism and Its Critics: Normative and Empirical Questions' (eds) Gina Gustavsson, David Miller. Oxford: Oxford Academic, pp. 38–56. https://doi.org/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 9783631787274.
External links
The Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism(ASEN)
*
Nostalgic Nationalism, Welfare Chauvinism, and Migration Anxieties in Central and Eastern Europe' at th
Lund University Research Portal
{{Authority control
Prejudices