Ethnocentrism

Even in the most democratic of the Western capitalist nations, equal rights were not extended to all individuals until fairly recent times. Racism and ethnocentrism were built into the world political and economic system, and authoritarian forms of government remained the norm well into the 20th Century. Defining ethnocentrism is not necessarily as simple a matter as it might appear to be at first sight, however. This tendency to ascribe negative characteristics to those of other colors, cultures, languages and religions has hardly been unusual in history, and is by no means confined to the Western capitalist powers. Even after the end of feudalism in the West in the early modern period, ethnocentrism and racism continued in new forms, even if the labor system was no longer as violent and coercive as slavery or serfdom. Slave labor was generally relegated to the colonies and the periphery, including Russia and...
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