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When an article (or any kind of document) is written specifically from the point of view of a citizen of the United States of America, I could complain about a US-centric bias.

Are there other words for that? More specifically, is there a word that expresses this without reference to the country in question (in this case, the USA)?

I was thinking of "geographically centric", or geocentric; but I think that's more (accurately) used for thinking that the Earth is the centre of the universe.

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In my case, apatheticism / Weaselism / Cluelessism – user7206 Apr 10 '11 at 20:27

7 Answers

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Ethnocentrism is “The tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture.”

More politically, nationalism is “The support of one nation's interests to the exclusion of others” and chauvinism is “Excessive patriotism, eagerness for national superiority; jingoism,” or “Unwarranted bias, favoritism, or devotion to one's own particular group, cause, or idea.” Both chauvinism and jingoism have entertaining etymologies. :)

The term national bias is occasionally used (ice skating example, medical scholarship example).

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I think ethnocentrism best describes what I'm looking for, even though it doesn't really contain a reference to geographic bias. – Martijn Apr 10 '11 at 15:16
Jingoism as I understand it is about aggressive foreign policy. ethnocentrism sounds more appropriate. – Mikel Apr 10 '11 at 23:09
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Nationalism reminds me of political nationalism infamously seen in fascist states. I would avoid it as a general term unless you wish to evoke that kind of emotion in your audience. – Bacon Bits Apr 11 '11 at 0:00
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"Regionalism" has the geographic connotation that "ethnocentricism" does not.

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up vote 1 down vote

Your title and question body ask about different parts of speech. Your title asks about a noun, while your question body asks about adjectives. That confuses the matter, although both can be answered with similar words.

Nationalism

Nationalistic

Now that term indicates promoting a certain country. If you simply mean the writing is neutral in tone but only of interest to people from that country, then that's national as in "national news."

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No. Nationalism actively promotes a certain country. What I mean is that the text is written in a fairly neutral tone, but several assumptions are being made that are only valid for said country. – Martijn Apr 10 '11 at 15:13
That's why I added the second part of my answer. It is correct to say "That article was pretty national" although it is more commonly put as "That article had national bias." – jhocking Apr 10 '11 at 15:41
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Parochial almost fits, or insular?

edit: sorry if my answer sounded offensive - I thought the poster was asking for a word for "country-centric" and was giving USA-centric as an example. I didn't mean that the US is parochial (although some bits are!)

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"geocentric" means something else en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_model – jhocking Apr 10 '11 at 14:45
+1 for parochial. – Mikel Apr 10 '11 at 23:03
Parochialism: "Harvard University said that one of the main purposes of the major curriculum overhaul (the first in three decades) was to overcome American "parochialisms", referring in this case to a national point of view rather than one concerned with any particular small community." – Mikel Apr 10 '11 at 23:23
Parochial originally meant your own parish - but I think it can be applied to a rather larger parish. – mgb Apr 11 '11 at 0:09
To me, "parochial" has a somewhat condescending connotation, as if the person being typed as "parochial" hadn't seen much of the world, and hence didn't know any better. – Martijn Apr 11 '11 at 6:54
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Ethnocentrism is a possible word. Ethnocentric as an adjective.

If you want a word related to US-centrism, Americentrism is the word you're looking for. It's an actual word.

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up vote 0 down vote

By jingo! "America Firsters" might do for you.

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up vote 0 down vote

How about provincialism?

The condition of being provincial; lack of sophistication or perspective. Also called provinciality.

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