Oikophobia Explained: Why Western Civilisations Hate Themselves
Transcript of the video linked below
It was a warm Italian evening in late summer, at the end of the previous decade, and I was dining in the shadow of the Roman Colosseum, a symbol of a decadent empire with ruins scattered around. Among my fellow diners was a young graduate student of ancient history who made a striking remark: she could never speak ill of another culture. She not only felt unable to do so but insisted she had no right to. When I asked, referencing her Austrian heritage, what she might say about a culture that produced Adolf Hitler, she replied that, as an Austrian European, she could criticise European and Austrian culture, and thus that brutal dictator. My follow-up question, whether, by her logic, a non-Austrian or non-European should not criticise Nazism, received no clear answer. Yet, she maintained that we should only criticise our own cultures, never others. This was another encounter with the intellectually flawed concept of oikophobia, the hatred or dislike of one’s own cultural home.
This student was part of, or soon to be part of, our social elite, a PhD candidate, quick-witted, and fluent in several languages, both modern and ancient. I glanced at the Colosseum, its dark, gaping ruin a reminder that all things perish. Our own civilisation is heading in that direction.
Such exchanges mirror many I’ve had across the Western world, revealing a civilisation that no longer believes in itself, that harbours self-hatred, and that is unwilling to defend the values of individual freedom, democracy, and scientific scepticism handed down since antiquity. We see this phenomenon daily, with countless examples of oikophobia. For instance, in July, the San Francisco school board voted to remove a mural of George Washington from a public school due to its alleged racism. Years ago, the leader of American volunteer teachers in Africa told us that living in a foreign culture taught her the United States deserved the 9/11 attacks because of its foreign policy. I know this because I was one of those volunteers. Such actions and statements are now commonplace.
But why this cultural self-hatred? The answer lies in a recurring historical process that moves a society from naive, self-promoting beginnings to self-contempt and decline. Oikophobia is the opposite of xenophobia. While xenophobia is the fear or hatred of foreigners, oikophobia, from the Greek “oikos” meaning home, is the fear or hatred of one’s own society or civilisation. The term was coined by British philosopher Roger Scruton in 2004 in his book England and the Need for Nations. He describes oikophobia as the need to denigrate the customs, culture, and institutions that are identifiably ours. While Scruton focuses on England, post-World War II, the phenomenon is not new and recurs throughout history.
The oikophobia we see in the United States today reflects a similar phase of historical decline as England experienced post-World War II, a great power on the wane. Oikophobia is a natural outcome of how cultures, particularly Western ones, develop. It appeared in ancient Greece, Rome, the French and British empires, and now the United States. Initially, a relatively uncivilised people, full of vitality, go to war in service of their deities. Successes bring wealth and prestige, forging a national identity with epic literature and cultural achievements. At its peak, a society amasses enough wealth to sustain a leisure class, coinciding with its greatest political, cultural, and scientific achievements.
However, with wealth and power, the leisure class, and often others, become more focused on personal prestige than communal health. This is when oikophobia emerges. Diverse interests within the society view each other as greater enemies than foreign threats. With external enemies defeated or diminished, people need an adversary for self-identification, so they turn inward. Success, ironically, breeds this self-hatred. Freud’s “narcissism of small differences” describes this urge to compete over minor distinctions, like virtuous actions or the latest gadget, to assert superiority. By rejecting one’s “backward” culture, individuals elevate themselves above others within it.
Early in a civilisation’s development, cooperation is essential for survival when the state is poorer and individuals rely on each other for security. But as a society becomes affluent, there is more room to excel, leading to criticism of one’s own culture as a means of personal advancement. The gap between self-interest and state interest widens as the state grows stronger. In political terms, oikophobes often dominate left-wing areas, while non-oikophobes, and sometimes xenophobes or reactionaries, dominate right-wing areas. The growing hostility between these sides in the United States aligns with its decline from its peak.
Oikophobia has weakened American culture, politics, and military, leaving the nation too focused on internal squabbles to project unified strength. This trajectory was predicted centuries, even millennia, ago by observing past civilisations. In Book VIII of Plato’s Republic, he notes that greater freedom and equality lead individuals to place themselves above the state. While we need not endorse Plato’s authoritarian leanings, his insight into societal decline is profound.
Both progressive and conservative outlooks are necessary but in different measures at different times. Early societies benefit from progressivism to adopt new ideas and absorb external strengths, while late societies need conservatism to maintain grounding and resilience. Western societies often err by being overly conservative early on and overly progressive later, precisely the opposite of what is needed. Oikophobia reflects this imbalance, crowding out appreciation for our own culture while idealising others. It is possible to learn from other traditions while valuing one’s own, but many struggle to strike this balance.
The more oikophobic we become, the further we drift from understanding our own culture. Many Westerners who disdain “Western values” unknowingly cherish them, unaware of their own cultural roots. Pride in our civilisation is justified, despite its flaws and past wrongs. Understanding oikophobia as a historical and social pathology, rather than independent thought, equips us to confront it. By recognising it as a knee-jerk reaction born of specific circumstances, we can better combat it in our daily lives.
Author Bio
Benedict Beckeld is a philosopher and writer whose work explores cultural and societal dynamics. He holds a PhD and is known for his sharp analyses of historical and philosophical trends. His latest book, Western Self-Contempt: Oikophobia in the Decline of Civilizations (Cornell University Press, 2022), delves into the phenomenon of oikophobia and its impact on Western societies. This piece was first published on Quillette.com in 2019.