Ethnocentrism and Social Cohesion in Multi-Ethnic Societies: A Systematic Review of Evidence from Africa
Abstract
Ethnic diversity is not, by itself, a threat to nationhood; what determines whether multi-ethnic states cohere or fracture is how citizens and institutions treat difference, a distinction that motivates this systematic review of Ethnocentrism and Social Cohesion in Multi-Ethnic Societies: Evidence from Africa. The paper achieved four objectives: examining the manifestations and drivers of ethnocentrism among ethnic nationalities within multi-ethnic African states; assessing its effects on social cohesion, governance, and development; evaluating xenophobia in South Africa as a form of intra-African ethnocentrism directed at foreign nationals; and identifying mechanisms capable of mitigating ethnocentric division. Social Identity Theory was adopted as the guiding framework, explaining ethnocentric behaviour as a product of in-group favouritism and out-group derogation pursued for positive distinctiveness. The review followed PRISMA 2020 protocol, screening records for scholarly traceability before synthesising twenty-three included studies. Findings of the paper showed that ethnocentrism, rooted in colonial classification and sustained by elite political competition and resource pressure, weakens governance and depresses development outcomes across Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda, while South African xenophobia reproduces this same logic across national rather than intra-state boundaries, driven more by institutional grievance than by migrants' actual conduct. The paper concluded that durable cohesion requires addressing both the psychological and structural roots of ethnocentrism, and recommended merit-based public appointment systems, factual correction paired with service delivery reform in South Africa, and structured intergroup contact combined with inclusive superordinate identity narratives.
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