Typical Ethnocentrism

Last week in W. Africa I was visiting with some cross-cultural workers, a French guy and his wife, who is Korean.  I was on my way to the airport and just wanted to stop by and say farewell before my journey.  The French guy asked me to sit and have coffee.  I told him I couldn’t but needed to get on with my journey.  He kind of laughed and said, “Typical American.  Always in hurry.”

For some reason that comment stung a bit.  He is a wonderful guy and I know he said it in jest, but as I drove away I thought to myself, “What does he mean when he said I was a ‘typical American’?”  My mind wandered a bit, contemplating the meaning behind the word “typical.”

Stereotyping is a common thing; we all do it.  Using the word “typical” can be a positive thing like saying, “They are typically generous,” or “typically efficient.”  I thought of that when I landed in the states and went through immigration.  Everything was clean and orderly, “typically American,” I said to myself.  However, many times the word “typical” can be used in a pejorative sense.  They are “typically lazy” or they are “typically rude.”  I am as guilty as anyone when stereotyping people…people who live in the eastern part of the U.S. or “she acts like a typical liberal woman.” 

While characteristics do seem to have a thread in the behavior of people, that’s not to say that everyone can be lumped into the same pot.  Not everything in America is typically efficient.  Not every politician (in any country) is typically corrupt.  To stereotype people is often another form of ethnocentrism; that my culture is a bit superior to any other culture.  So, when you use the word typical, use it in the most positive way less we harbor the spirit of ethnocentrism.