Chauvinism

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Chauvinism is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group. The term is derived from the undocumented Nicolas Chauvin, whose legend made him out to be a soldier under Napoleon Bonaparte whose fanatical zeal for his Emperor induced him, though wounded seventeen times in the Napoleonic Wars, to continue nevertheless to fight for France. It is claimed he yelled in the Battle of Waterloo when the French were finally defeated: "The Old Guard dies but does not surrender!", implying blind and unquestioned zeal to one's country [or other group of reference].

The origin and early usage indicate that chauvinisme was coined to describe excessive nationalism, and the original French term retains this meaning today. The term entered public use due to a satirical treatment of Chauvin in the French play La Cocarde Tricolore (The Tricolore Cockade).

The term in English now usually means Male chauvinism, while an equivalent for the original meaning is jingoism.

[edit] Chauvinism as nationalism

In "Imperialism, Nationalism, Chauvinism", in The Review of Politics 7.4, (October 1945), p. 457, Hannah Arendt describes the concept:

Chauvinism is an almost natural product of the national concept insofar as it springs directly from the old idea of the "national mission." ... (A) nation's mission might be interpreted precisely as bringing its light to other, less fortunate peoples that, for whatever reason, have miraculously been left by history without a national mission. As long as this concept did not develop into the ideology of chauvinism and remained in the rather vague realm of national or even nationalistic pride, it frequently resulted in a high sense of responsibility for the welfare of backward peoples.

(See, for example, white man's burden.)

The word does not require a judgment that the chauvinist is right or wrong in his opinion, only that he is blind and unreasoning in coming to it, ignoring any facts which might temper his fervor. In modern use, however, it is often used pejoratively to imply that the chauvinist is both unreasoning and wrong.