Racism and xenophobia are two socially frowned upon concepts, which are mistakenly believed to be synonymous terms, which is not true.
Although both terms mean similar things, racism and xenophobia are terms that are not exactly the same, having some key differences between them that make them totally different if you look at their pure meaning.
Both movements are typical of the extreme right and therefore are often socially frowned upon. This association with extremist ideas may be what makes people confuse the terms.
Knowing the difference between the terms is important for a good education, since it is always nice to meet people who are able to use the language correctly, since in today’s world it is unfortunately scarce.
In addition, speaking of both as if they were synonymous can make you seem like an uneducated person who has no idea what he is talking about, and can also offend people who have a belief such as Xenophobia but do not support racism, for example.
What do you need to differentiate xenophobia from racism?
- Read this article carefully to differentiate racism from xenophobia.
Instructions to differentiate xenophobia from racism
- Definition of racism: If you are a regular reader, you will have been able to observe how almost every time I differentiate between two concepts, I try to explain their meaning beforehand, and then explain the difference. With this, I seek to learn the full meaning first, thus ensuring that you never forget what the word means and therefore, that you do not forget the differences. We begin with Xenophobia, a compound word that means hatred of foreigners, that is, a xenophobe only wants to be born in his country living in his country, hating all immigrants.
- Definition of racism: Now that you know what Xenophobia is, I will tell you the definition of racism, so that you can also know the meaning of the other word that we want to differentiate. Racism means hatred of other races, that is, I hate someone who has a different skin color and facial features than you. There is racism of various kinds and against various races, not just white-hating-black racism. Being black and hating whites is also racism, hating Chinese is also racism, insulting Latin Americans is also racism, and so on.
- Differences: Now that we know what they mean, I think you are already getting used to the idea of the difference between racism and xenophobia, however, I have taken the liberty of explaining the differences a little more, since that way you will never forget it. The main difference is that racism attacks races and xenophobia attacks nationalities, which, as you can see, has nothing to do with one another. A racist can hate blacks, whether they are Spanish or not, a xenophobic can accept blacks who are Spanish, but hate whites who come from Italy, for example. There are also people who are both racist and xenophobe, hating everyone who is not from their country and their race, which is usually the most common and the main reason that it is a bit difficult to differentiate the terms.
Tips to differentiate xenophobia from racism
- Causes of racism and xenophobia: Many people hate different people for various reasons, which must be understood in order to try to help these people change their minds towards the right thing, which is not to be racist or xenophobic.
- Historical hatred: There are countries that have always gotten along badly with each other, therefore, it is normal for some countries to hate people from another country that has always been a historical rival.
- Follow extreme ideologies: Some ideologies such as Nazism advocate the supremacy of the Aryan race, considering races inferior to the rest, especially the Jews.
- Education: In the 50s, there was a high racial segregation in the US, in which black people were considered inferior , all this because they were educated to think like that, since blacks in the past were slaves of the whites.
- Wars and terrorism: After the latest attacks by the Islamic state and the appearance of refugees, people have appeared who hated all those who practiced Islam, mainly for fear that they would plant a bomb on them.
- Positive discrimination: Due to historical inequality, many immigrants have help to find work and housing, something that many natives of the country do not like.
- Bad experience: There are people who are capable of hating an entire race and a country just because of a bad experience with a member of it. It often happens with the Gypsy Ethnicity and with immigrants from Eastern Europe.