More and more often in recent years we come across this term. He appears with surprising consistency in the topics of speeches of politicians, in discussions about the problems of the people and the country, in public discussions. Often we associate chauvinism with an aggressive form of nationalism. However, chauvinism is a slightly different phenomenon.
Interestingly, this concept comes from the name of one of the Bonaparte army veterans, Nicolas Chauvin. Napoleon saw the glory of the French state as powerful primarily militarily. In the name of this, he sacrificed a whole generation of Europeans, and especially the French themselves. However, even after the defeats of his commander-in-chief, despite such large-scale victims of his fanaticism, soldiers loyal to him still remained in the country. One of them was Nicolas Chauvin. He so stubbornly and blindly defended the former emperor that his name soon became a household name. Since then, chauvinism has been ultranationalist views in which the idea of the superiority of one nation over the rest becomes absolute. Today this concept is very often used together with clarifying definitions - Russian, German, French. In this sense, chauvinism is indeed the most radical and aggressive direction of nationalism. However, if we examine the term in more depth, we will find out that today it has spread to other areas of life. In modern times, chauvinism is not only something related to interethnic relations.
Concept in a public context
For example, we all came across, one way or another, with the concept of male chauvinism. It turns out that it can have different forms and be directed towards just other social categories. For example, the manifestations of chauvinism of men to women, adults to children, young to old people, rich to poor, healthy to disabled, and so on. All these forms are accompanied by deliberate discrimination.
Chauvinism - Importance in Biology
It is interesting that the so-called species discrimination takes place. This determines the infringement of any interests of another kind. A striking example of this form can be the relationship of humans to animals. There is also such a thing as carbon chauvinism. And now it has nothing to do with discrimination. The concept is used in the context of the search for extraterrestrial life and in cosmosology in general. The fact is that absolutely all known life forms on our planet have carbon as their fundamental basis. Moreover, we ourselves are composed of those substances that are most common throughout the universe (carbon, hydrogen, and so on). This factor determines the popularity of the opinion of modern scientists that life forms, if they exist outside the Earth, are also built from these compounds. Assumptions about any other forms, for example, based on silicon, are discarded. Actually, it was the latter fact that led to the emergence of such a concept as carbon chauvinism.