Xenophobia — hatred, intolerance or dislike for someone or something alien, unfamiliar, unusual.
Someone else’s opinion is usually the opinion of another person or group of people, which differs from mine, and to which I am critical. The word «foreign» emphasizes the opposition of points of view and rather indicates the unwillingness to hear this opinion. The softer formulations “other opinion”, “other opinion” are oriented towards a more constructive perception of other views.
The perception of the other as incomprehensible, incomprehensible, and therefore dangerous and hostile. Raised to the rank of a worldview, it can cause enmity on the basis of national, religious or social division. Occasionally, it can be interpreted literally as an obsessive fear of other people, that is, a phobia in the clinical sense.
Xenophobia is often identified with nationalism, but there is a significant difference between these concepts: adherents of nationalist views do not necessarily have negative feelings towards other nations, ethnic groups or religions. On the other hand, xenophobic people may call their views «nationalism» in order to make them more attractive. Also, xenophobia in its specific manifestations borders and intersects with chauvinism.
In the nature of xenophobia lies a natural fear of the unknown, which intensifies in conditions of mutual informational isolation and lack of knowledge of other people’s customs. On this basis, an opinion easily arises about the barbaric customs of these «strangers», and sometimes unreliable rumors are artificially spread. Indeed, xenophobia is beneficial to those who spread it: the image of the enemy unites, hatred blinds and distracts from internal problems..
Xenophobia in its most striking form is irrational, but can be justified by some logical arguments. A person can explain his dislike for group X by the fact that it has bad customs Y, and his negative attitude towards the customs of Y — by the fact that bad people X adhere to them. At the same time, he may not know either people X or customs Y at all.
With a personal acquaintance, attitudes often change for the better, people learn about each other and the fear of the unknown recedes. This is seen both in the example of anti-Semitism and in the example of homophobia.
The preferred objects of hatred can be different, some do not like Russians, Jews, others — Africans, Azerbaijanis or Americans. According to the estimates of the sociologist Lev Gudkov, in Russia the probability of crossing different xenophobic attitudes is 75-80%, thus the average xenophobe can choose as an object of his hatred both “blacks”, and Jews, and Chinese, and Peruvians, even gays or representatives of another subculture, it is enough that in front of him is a stranger (dissident).
Xenophobia is contagious. People who experience xenophobia may also experience xenophobia both towards other members of persecuted minorities and towards the main group, i.e. the majority.
Important: do not confuse xenophobia with value preferences. If decent and educated people dislike dishonorable and ill-mannered people and make their communication selective, this is not xenophobia, but a normal healthy choice, accompanied by a normal emotional coloring for this case.
Genetic determinants of xenophobia
A number of ethologists pointed to the biological determinism of human xenophobia. In animals, there is a phenomenon of ethological isolation — aggression and hostility shown by them in relation to close species and subspecies. The biological expediency of such behavior is a ban on the formation of mixed pairs. And differences in the appearance and behavior of representatives of different races (and often subcultures) are sometimes noticeably stronger than differences between different species (although all of humanity is a representative of one species of Homo sapiens).