Ethnocentric Monoculturalism

Ethnocentric (valuing of one's ethnic/cultural group over others) monoculturalism (belief in one “right” culture) is an unconscious or conscious overvaluation of one's own cultural beliefs and practices, and simultaneous invalidation of other cultural worldviews. In application, ethnocentric monoculturalism posits the individual's culture as normal and valid. Other cultures are viewed as abnormal, inferior, or pathological, with corresponding differential treatment. Psychology and counseling have a history of being both monocultural and ethnocentric, resulting in limited validity for many psychological theories and practices within the United States. Recognition of ethnocentric monoculturalism is meaningful to psychology and counseling, as multiculturalism not only is required for clinical competency by the ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct guidelines of the American Psychological Association, but is also important to the interpersonal and personal development of consumers of psychology.

Ethnocentric monoculturalism is based on the concept of group power. When one group gains social power, it gains the capacity to define sociocultural norms. Group power manifests differently in different countries, with a particular ethnic/cultural group perhaps dominant in one country but oppressed in another. Ethnocentric monoculturalism, therefore, is not limited to any one country or ethnic/cultural group. Psychology generally recognizes that European American males hold the dominant group power in the United States and thus hold the ability to create social norms. Although some argue that social revolutions in the 1960s and 1970s have fostered change, the distribution of social power can be seen in the demographics of people holding powerful positions. In the United States, European American men currently hold an estimated 92% of Forbes 400 chief economic officer positions and 80% of tenured academic positions in higher education. European American men hold 80% of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 84% in the United States Senate, and 100% of the U.S. presidents have been men, although European American men constitute only 33% of the general population. The statistical representation of European American males in these positions counters a random or fair distribution; uncontrolled distribution by gender alone would normally result in a 50% split between males and females. The concept of dominant group power offers clarification for this statistical discrepancy.

Ethnocentric monoculturalism explains the frequently espoused perspective of colorblindness in the United States, or the ideal of treating all cultural groups the same–a monoculture. In reality, people in the United States are treated differently, based on others' perception of their cultural validity or normalcy (a centric perspective). For example, the homeless are treated differently than those who live in a home, as living in a home is considered normal in the dominant U.S. culture. The ability of any dominant group to define social, economic, and political reality makes it difficult for that group to see how the centric reality is a constructed, versus natural, phenomenon. For example, race is important only in cultures valuing skin pigmentation differences and is meaningless in other cultures. Ethnocentric monoculturalism has been proposed to explain not only overt but covert or modern forms of group and individual discriminatory beliefs and practices.

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