Xenophobia

Xenophobia (from the Greek xenos “stranger, foreigner” and phobos “fear”) is an intense dislike, distrust or hostility toward people perceived as foreign or outside one's own group. The word itself dates from the late 19th century (earliest known use around 1880). Xenophobia often targets minorities and immigrants and has been one of the lasting threats to Estonia's historical minorities as well.

Forms and history

Xenophobia can take many forms: anti-immigrant sentiment, ethnic and racial prejudice, religious intolerance, and a broader rejection of the other. In times of crisis — recession, war, epidemic — outsiders are often made scapegoats, blamed for complex troubles. Demagogues and states have used xenophobia to unite us against them.

Psychology

Xenophobia is rooted in the human in-group / out-group thinking that once served a survival function. The stranger is perceived as different and dangerous, and fear of the unfamiliar turns into hostility; some scholars see it as one of the roots of racism. The scapegoating mechanism offers a simple but false explanation for complex problems, and with it a deceptive comfort.

Xenophobia and minorities

Minorities are frequent targets of xenophobia. When the Estonian Tatar itinerant merchants arrived in the 19th century they were often mistaken for Roma; Jews and Roma faced centuries of rejection in Europe that culminated in the Holocaust. Xenophobia is therefore not abstract — it is a real threat that has shattered communities. It is precisely why the Estonian Tatars hold dear a state and a rule of law that protect minorities.

Xenophobia and Russophobia

Xenophobia must be kept apart from political labelling. Xenophobia is a genuine prejudice against people because of their origin. The term Russophobia, however, is often used differently: the Russian state and its media present criticism of the Russian state and its policies as if it were xenophobia against Russians as a people — blurring the line between criticising a government and hating a people. Criticising a state and its war is not xenophobia. So xenophobia describes a real prejudice, while the Russophobia label is often a political instrument; the article Russophobia explains the difference in more detail.

Sources

Britannica and Merriam-Webster (xenophobia); Wikipedia (Xenophobia); Simply Psychology and the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate (the psychology of xenophobia and scapegoating).