Oikophobia
Encyclopedia
Oikophobia, also ecophobia, is a term used in psychiatry to refer to an aversion to home surroundings. It can also be used more generally to mean an abnormal fear of the home, or of the contents of a house ("fear of household appliances, equipment, bathtubs, household chemicals, and other common objects in the home"). The term derives from the Greek words oikos
, meaning household
, house
, or family
, and phobia
, meaning "fear".
In 1808 the poet and essayist Robert Southey
used the word to describe a desire (particularly by the English) to leave home and travel. Southey's usage as a synonym for wanderlust
was picked up by other nineteenth century writers.
In a 2004 book, the word was adapted by the British philosopher Roger Scruton
to mean "the repudiation of inheritance and home," He argued that it is "a stage through which the adolescent mind normally passes", but that it is a feature of some radical political impulses and ideologies which espouse xenophilia (preference for alien cultures).
travel to wild landscapes, such as the highlands of Scotland. Southey's link of oikophobia to wealth and the search for new experiences was taken up by other writers, and cited in dictionaries. A writer in 1829 published an essay about his experience witnessing the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo
, saying "the love of locomotion is so natural to an Englishman that nothing can chain him home, but the absolute impossibility of living abroad. No such imperious necessity acting upon me, I gave away to my oiko-phobia and the summer of 1815 found me in Brussels." In 1959 the Anglo-Egyptian author Bothaina Abd el-Hamid Mohamed used Southey's concept in his book Oikophobia: or, A literary craze for education through travel.
. In his book, Roger Scruton: Philosopher on Dover Beach, Mark Dooley describes oikophobia as centered within the Western academic establishment on "both the common culture of the West, and the old educational curriculum that sought to transmit its humane values." This disposition has grown out of, for example, the writings of Jacques Derrida
and of Michel Foucault
's "assault on 'bourgeois' society result[ing] in an 'anti-culture' that took direct aim at holy and sacred things, condemning and repudiating them as oppressive and power-ridden."
An extreme aversion to the sacred and the thwarting of the connection of the sacred to the culture of the West is described as the underlying motif of oikophobia; and not the substitution of Judeo-Christianity by another coherent system of belief. The paradox of the oikophobe seems to be that any opposition directed at the theological and cultural tradition
of the West is to be encouraged even if it is "significantly more parochial, exclusivist, patriarchal, and ethnocentric."
Scruton's usage has been taken up by some American political commentators to refer to an alleged rejection of traditional American culture by liberals. In August 2010 James Taranto
wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal entitled Oikophobia, Why the liberal elite finds Americans revolting in which he attacked supporters of the proposed Islamic center in New York as oikophobes who were defending Muslims who aimed to "exploit the 9/11 atrocity".
Oikos
An oikos is the ancient Greek equivalent of a household, house, or family....
, meaning household
Household
The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family"....
, house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
, or family
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
, and phobia
Phobia
A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational...
, meaning "fear".
In 1808 the poet and essayist Robert Southey
Robert Southey
Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
used the word to describe a desire (particularly by the English) to leave home and travel. Southey's usage as a synonym for wanderlust
Wanderlust
Wanderlust is a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world.-Etymology:The loanword from German language became an English term in 1902 as a reflection of what was then seen as a characteristically German predilection for wandering that may be traced back to German...
was picked up by other nineteenth century writers.
In a 2004 book, the word was adapted by the British philosopher Roger Scruton
Roger Scruton
Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...
to mean "the repudiation of inheritance and home," He argued that it is "a stage through which the adolescent mind normally passes", but that it is a feature of some radical political impulses and ideologies which espouse xenophilia (preference for alien cultures).
Psychiatric usage
In psychiatric usage oikophobia typically refers to fear of the physical space of the home interior, and is especially linked to fear of household appliances, baths, electrical equipment and other aspects of the home perceived to be potentially dangerous. The term is properly applied only to fear of objects within the house. Fear of the house itself is referred to as domatophobia. In the post-World War II era some commentators used the term to refer to a supposed "fear and loathing of housework" experienced by women who worked outside the home and who were attracted to a consumerist lifestyle.Southey's usage
Southey used the term in Letters from England (1808), stating that it is a product of "a certain state of civilisation or luxury", referring to habit of wealthy people to visit spa towns and seaside resorts in the summer months. He also mentions the fashion for picturesquePicturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
travel to wild landscapes, such as the highlands of Scotland. Southey's link of oikophobia to wealth and the search for new experiences was taken up by other writers, and cited in dictionaries. A writer in 1829 published an essay about his experience witnessing the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, saying "the love of locomotion is so natural to an Englishman that nothing can chain him home, but the absolute impossibility of living abroad. No such imperious necessity acting upon me, I gave away to my oiko-phobia and the summer of 1815 found me in Brussels." In 1959 the Anglo-Egyptian author Bothaina Abd el-Hamid Mohamed used Southey's concept in his book Oikophobia: or, A literary craze for education through travel.
Scruton's usage
Scruton uses the term as the antithesis of xenophobiaXenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
. In his book, Roger Scruton: Philosopher on Dover Beach, Mark Dooley describes oikophobia as centered within the Western academic establishment on "both the common culture of the West, and the old educational curriculum that sought to transmit its humane values." This disposition has grown out of, for example, the writings of Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
and of Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
's "assault on 'bourgeois' society result[ing] in an 'anti-culture' that took direct aim at holy and sacred things, condemning and repudiating them as oppressive and power-ridden."
Derrida is a classic oikophobe in so far as he repudiates the longing for home that the Western theological, legal, and literary traditions satisfy. . . . Derrida's deconstruction seeks to block the path to this 'core experience' of membership, preferring instead a rootless existence founded 'upon nothing.'
An extreme aversion to the sacred and the thwarting of the connection of the sacred to the culture of the West is described as the underlying motif of oikophobia; and not the substitution of Judeo-Christianity by another coherent system of belief. The paradox of the oikophobe seems to be that any opposition directed at the theological and cultural tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
of the West is to be encouraged even if it is "significantly more parochial, exclusivist, patriarchal, and ethnocentric."
Scruton's usage has been taken up by some American political commentators to refer to an alleged rejection of traditional American culture by liberals. In August 2010 James Taranto
James Taranto
James Taranto is an American columnist for The Wall Street Journal, editor of its online editorial page OpinionJournal.com and a member of the newspaper's editorial board. He is best known for his daily online column Best of the Web Today...
wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal entitled Oikophobia, Why the liberal elite finds Americans revolting in which he attacked supporters of the proposed Islamic center in New York as oikophobes who were defending Muslims who aimed to "exploit the 9/11 atrocity".
See also
- List of phobias
- WanderlustWanderlustWanderlust is a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world.-Etymology:The loanword from German language became an English term in 1902 as a reflection of what was then seen as a characteristically German predilection for wandering that may be traced back to German...
- AllophiliaAllophiliaAllophilia is having positive attitude for a group that is not one's own. The term derived from Greek words meaning "liking or love of the other"....
- XenophilyXenophilyXenophily or xenophilia means an affection for unknown objects or peoples. It is the opposite of xenophobia or xenophoby. The word is a synthesis from the Greek "xenos" and "philia" .-In fiction:...
- XenocentrismXenocentrismXenocentrism is a political neologism, coined as the antonym of ethnocentrism. Xenocentrism is the preference for the products, styles, or ideas of someone else's culture rather than of one's own...
- go nativeGo nativeGo native is an expression meaning "to adopt the lifestyle or outlook of local inhabitants". It could also refer to:*Go Native *Go Native...
- clientitis