The practice of judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture, typically assuming one's own culture is superior. The tendency to view one's ethnic group as the center of everything.
Coined in 1906 by sociologist William Sumner, combining Greek 'ethnos' (nation, people) with 'centrism' (placing at the center). The term was created to describe the universal tendency of groups to see themselves as the standard by which others should be measured.
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