Ethnocentrism is another barrier that many people encounter daily. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others and the tendency to judge all cultures by one’s own criteria. By looking at the definition of ethnocentrism one can see the biases that it holds towards other cultures. From this chapter alone we have learned that it is not right to have biases against other cultures. We cannot have these biases because it is naïve to think ones culture is superior just because they are used to one way of performing an act. Who are we o decide what is the norm for daily living. Some cultures perform what other cultures would think as weird acts because their act is concerned with the livelihood. For example, when the Muslim culture drops to their knees at a certain hour to give praise. We may find that weird or wrong in America, but to the Muslim culture it is important to their beliefs and how their afterlife will be conducted. Living in a global village we have to learn how to become more aware of the cultural differences so that we do not become judgmental. Most of all I feel that we should seek out the similarities between one another and try to become more cohesive in that manner. It is very easy to figure out why one is different than the other, but when cultures can have something in common it may bring greater relationships and communication amongst each other.
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I totally agree with your post, but the funny thing is, we often don't even recognize our own ethnocentrism. We can be completely unaware of our own bias and how we may or may not feel towards other people and other cultures. I think that they key is to keep education in the back of everyones mind. If we all consciously keep in our heads that we are always learning about other people and cultures, we have a better chance of accepting them instead of only seeing the differences between "us" and "them". This is of course not easy to do and must be kept in mind when dealing with all kinds of people in any situation.
ReplyDeleteI really like that you chose the concept of ethnocentrism. In my Intercultural Communications we talked about this subject a lot. The United States is like the melting pot for all cultures. By being diverse in cultures, we should not be believing that one culture is superior to the other. Unfortunately this happens ever day between cultures. American culture seems to be very fast paced and if someone from another culture is taking their time and enjoying, for example, their meal, rushed and busy 'Americans' look down upon them. Possibly suggesting that the other culture is being lazy. In America, there should not be a superior culture. Isn't this why people immigrated from other countries? Because we are the "land of freedom."
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