Orientalism is expressed by Said in this book as a way that perceives and places one culture as better and sophisticated compared to another that is instead considered backward. A useful example is the U.S culture that is viewed as civilized while the exotic Arab culture is considered primitive. Said notes that learning about another culture does not necessarily include interests of power dominance. The useful purpose is to be able to co-exist with that particular culture.
Orientals comprise of the people from the Eastern world which has countries like Japan and China with cultures that are different from the Occidentals of the Western world. Said observes that much of the Western desire to study cultures of the Orientals was in the interests of gaining political intelligence to eventually dominate over them as seen during the colonial times. Orientalism was exercised on the non-European peoples, a perfect example of discrimination on a cultural basis. This was aimed at establishing imperial European dominance.
Orientalism is one source that perpetrates incorrect cultural representations that yield stereotypes of the Eastern world. A perfect example is the United States' perception of Arabs as either oil suppliers or probable terrorists. These stereotypes continue to serve the self-interests of European dominance as they provide premises for colonial ventures.
Orientalism has been used as a tool for cultural judgment. It was used in writing the history of Asia where the orient people are represented as lesser peoples compared to those of the West. Strong-West-weak-East is a narrative meant to portray a difference in cultural inequity of the West and East.
