Jasmine: them too. They epitomize the social phenomenon in gender relations.

Labs: I haven't come across a third definition of chauvinism. You have the connotation right though it seems.

Aangil: I agree, superiority is the common undercurrent, sometimes even an overtone. And yes its polarizing effect is very destructive.

Any more comments/thoughts?

I thought chauvinism was chauvinism. and the rest - nationalism and other prejudices come under their own categories.. they all have things in common though.. a feeling of superiority (eg. women/ another race etc. are inferior..) and a huge feeling of being threatened.. ie. the more power/ economic and other freedom you give to women .. the more the 'old male' way of life (and the power that comes with it) will be eroded.. also a feeling you get with nationalists in the UK for instance.. that there are only so many resources to go around.. which is inaccurate.. ie. 'all the Asian people in this country are taking our jobs'...not realising that due to lack of education/ skills/ initiative.. the people who are jobless would still be jobless even if there was no Asian competition.. (I'm sure men use this argument with women going to work too)

I think there are more categories than the two mentioned above (such as chauvinism by minorities) but any type of chauvinism is a result of lack of knowledge. The power of the chauvinist makes things even worse, the greater the power and ignorance, more harmful the effect. The media and educated groups have the responsibility to make general public aware of the reality and the negative effects of chauvinism. Chauvinism polarizes the society, diverts energies to wasteful resources, and is based on the assumption that resources are limited so one group's benefit could only come at the cost of the other. Minorities also could experience chauvinism and it is kind of self preserving response, something to boost their morale. You would see a lot of gay people, even some feminists, and several minorities in various countries holding this notion that they are superior from the rest.