...Ethnocentrism is a major reason for divisions amongst members of different ethnicities, races, and religious groups in society. Ethnocentrism is the belief of superiority is one's personal ethnic group, but it can also develop from racial or religious differences. Ethnocentric individuals believe that they are better than other individuals for reasons based solely on their heritage. Clearly, this practice is related to problems of both racism and prejudice. While many people may recognize the problems, they may not realize that ethnocentrism occurs everywhere and everyday at both the local and political levels. Ethnocentrism in History Present Day Politics To solidify the definition of ethnocentrism, looking at the present day politics of the United States is helpful. With instances occuring since its conception, the United States has often thought of itself as more powerful, more economically sound, and just generally "better" than other nations. This has been shown by the country's tendency to dabble in situations occuring in other nations, such as the country's current involvement with affairs in the Middle East. Although the idea of every citizen in the United States belonging to one ethnicity is certainly debatable, since the country has citizens who originally came from all over the world, the feeling of national pride can stand in for a pure ethnicity in this case. European Imperialism Imperialism, the practice of taking over other lands, was heavily...
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...DB #2 "Ethnocentrism" refers to the ethnicity and its social concerns. Ethnocentrism involves the belief that one’s group, race, religion, or class is more superior to others. This ethnocentrism is based on false assumption or mis-beliefs. The false assumption such as Hispanics have too many children, when in reality, the use of contraception is religiously prohibited. Most people who are ethnocentric are either unaware of their assumptions, or are just “prejudiced”. Open-mindedness or tolerance does not justify or excuse ethnocentrism. Assumptions are made about others can involve false or negative judgments. For example, homosexuality. Generally, homosexuality is frowned upon by just about every ethnic race, because it destroys societies moral and norms. Most people are conservative and prefer that society stick to the norms and traditions, but then why is there a growing movement legally and morally to accept same sex marriage? This issue has evolved from accepting same sex relationships, to same sex marriage, to if not accepted then its discrimination against this group of people, while all along, society loathes this "straying" away from the "natural" order of things. The Catholic Church opposes same sex marriage and the social acceptance of homosexuality and same sex relationships, BUT teaches that homosexual personal deserve respect, justice and pastoral care. Same sex marriage has also become politically correct, and now religiously correct, as the "gay" bible...
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...(Ethnocentrism vs. Cultural Relativism) As a Sociologist, should we practice Cultural Ethnocentrism or Cultural Relativism? We must first understand the two distinct theories regarding perception of outside cultures: Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism. Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture.[1] The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion - these ethnic distinctions and subdivisions serve to define each ethnicity’s unique cultural identity.[2] The logical alternative to ethnocentrism is Cultural relativism, the practice of judging a culture by its own standards. Cultural relativism can be difficult for certain individuals to adopt: it requires not only openness to unfamiliar values and norms but also the ability to put aside cultural standards we have known all our lives.[3] No one ethnic group has the right to say that their particular system of beliefs and values are in any way superior to anyone else’s system of beliefs and values. What is right for one culture might be wrong for another. There is no absolute standard of right and wrong by which to compare and contrast morally contradictory cultural values. Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism are mutually exclusive. The social sciences are limited to what can be observed, measured and verified. The question of what...
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...Cultural relativism tells us that we must examine cultural practices within their cultural contexts, seeking to understand cultural practices from the perspective of those who take part in them. It is always difficult to understand another culture from an emic perspective, and there is an ethnocentric tendency to favor your own culture, viewing it as superior to others. In order to overcome this tendency toward ethnocentrism, it is helpful to change your perspective, assuming an outsider’s view toward your own culture and taking on an insider’s perspective toward another culture. Over the course of this paper, I will examine an aspect of my own culture through an etic lens in order to gain the perspective of an outsider, and I will examine an aspect of another culture from an insider’s perspective in order to become more familiar with the motivations behind this practice. Specifically, I will examine the state of higher education in America, contrasted with the practice of veiling among Muslim women to show that what Americans view as “normal” is unusual in a wider context, and that while veiling may seem one-dimensional and oppressive to an outsider, it is a far more complex practice to insiders than most outsiders realize. ----------------------- The following is an example of an introduction for this paper. You can use this as a model to help you write your own introduction, but you can’t use this exact introduction. End your introduction with...
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...(Campinha-Bacote, J., 2003) Cultural competence plays an important part in helping managers and professionals in a business setting to meet the needs of culturally diverse groups. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Minority Health defines cultural competency as “a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency or among professionals that enables effective work in cross-cultural situations.” (OMH, 2005) In order to bridge the gap between groups whether minority or majority, we have to develop certain abilities and skills and examine our own views of others. We need to become culturally aware recognizing our biases, prejudices and assumptions about those who are different. There is where ethnocentrism plays a part; evaluating cultural differences in relationship to ours. The prejudices that arise from our ethnocentric...
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...Ethnocentrism It is always troublesome not to understand another culture, especially, in New York City where we live in a society that is rapidly changing. The City has increasingly brought people of various cultures, to interact closer with each other. This interaction can be either positive or negative depending on the level of sensitivity and respect people have for other culture groups. These two types of behaviors are related to two important concepts known as ethnocentrism and cultural relativity. Ethnocentrism is “the attitude of prejudice or mistrust towards outsiders that may exist within a group (in-group) in relation to other (out-group)”…. (Harper-Collin Dictionary of Sociology). Importantly, there are also three levels of ethnocentrism: a positive one, a negative one, and an extreme negative one. The positive definition defines ethnocentrism as “the point of view that one’s own way of life is to be preferred to all others” (Herskovits 1973: 21). There is nothing wrong with such feelings, because “it characterizes the way most individuals feel about their own cultures, whether or not they verbalize their feelings” (Herskovits 1973:21). It is this point of view that gives people their sense of people-hood, group identity, and place in history. Ethnocentrism becomes negative when “ one’s own group becomes the center of everything, and all other are scaled and rated with reference to it”(Herskovits 1973:21). People of different ethnicities...
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...skill characteristics. Diversity should be respected and valued because nobody is completely the same as anyone else, even within the categories above. People tend to reject what is different. Our differences/diversities can lead to growth as a society or it can lead to violence and hatred. We must value our diversity in order to work together for the common good of our society/world. What is ethnocentrism? In what ways can ethnocentrism be detrimental to a society? Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and subdivisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity. Even though it may cause external conflicts, it creates internal unity. It also makes individuals feel more certain about their beliefs. Through providing individuals with a sense of belonging to a particular community, ethnocentrism enables social order. Societies need that kind of solidarity and order so as to continue. Define emigration and immigration. Emigration is the act of permanently leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Immigration is the movement of people into a country or...
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...field of business is becoming more and more aligned – where do the missteps happen in regards to doing international business? And if the communication goes successfully between the individuals creating the deal – shouldn’t that be the ‘green light’ for success? My argument is No. Because once the communication is successful in establishing the opportunity to do business internationally – it will then not be in the correct handshakes or presentation of business cards that success will be found – now it’s time to communicate with the culture. Here is where international business could go wrong, with an overall belief in ethnocentrism. The belief that doing it the way you have been, or want to, will work in every situation. ETHNOCENTRISM In the online paper, “Intercultural Business Communication” by Melvin C. Washington, he defines ethnocentrism as “this view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with...
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...ETHNOCENTRISM Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behaviour, customs, and religion. The term ethnocentrism was coined by William G. Sumner, upon observing the tendency for people to differentiate between the in group and others. Ethnocentrism occurs when one culture or nation places itself at the top of an imagined hierarchy of cultures and nations and subsequently assigns other cultures and nations equivalent or lower value on that scale. To be fair, a system of belief in which someone doesn't consider his or her own as the right one is inherently inconsistent, for it is admitting its own falseness. With this in mind, it is important to examine the bases for our beliefs regarding other cultures and nations. The tendency to evaluate other groups according to the values and standards of one's own ethnic group, especially with the conviction that one's own ethnic group is superior to the other groups. "The fallacy of ethnocentrism is committed...
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...Adam Baird Professor Pisani Mgt 365 13 January 2015 Article 1 1.) The authors are Mahmood Bahaee and Michael J. Pisani. They are teachers at Central Michigan University and have no biased opinions on the matter. They wrote this article for the students of their classes to relate this topic to international business. Business Horizons is published by Elsevier and is provided for non-commercial research and educational use. These questions are important because one needs to know how to cite work and realize if what they are reading is credible. 2.) Consumer ethnocentrism the term used to measure the feelings and morality one feels about buying imports. 3.) Consumer animosity focuses on a specific country and measures consumers’ attitudes toward products of that singular country. 4.) They are examples of Psychometric scales because they both measure the knowledge, attitudes, and personality traits between individuals and how these traits effect economic attitude. 5.) The context of this paper shows that the majority of Iranians will still buy U.S. made goods despite that feud between the two countries. Individuals want quality goods regardless of where they come from. This is important information for people running businesses trying to enhance net profits. 6.) Business practitioners can use these statistics to find what age, gender, race, etc. to specifically market and sell to. They can maximize profits by proportionally focusing their efforts on groups of people who will...
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...JUSTICE The world is full of inequalities and these inequalities defer from country to country. Some children are born into rich families and they get all what it needs to prosper in life. Others are also born into poor families and it even becomes difficult for them to survive. This situation is a matter of luck. We are not responsible for the social or economic class or country into which we are born. Some inequalities are deliberately imposed. Some are not because of bad luck but it is our societies or people that make it so. Racism and sexual discrimination are typical examples of inequalities that are imposed our societies or people and they are unfair. Fairness requires that opportunities should be open to those who qualify for it and it is clearly a good thing when government tries to enforce such equality of opportunities. But it is harder to deal with inequalities that arise in our ordinary events without deliberate racial ore sexual discrimination because even if equal opportunities are given to people without racial or sexual discrimination it will still come to the fact that it is only the rich who could afford these opportunities like good school, better health care and the like. Even with people of the same native talent, when a system of equality of opportunity is given, some people will have a head start and will end up with greater benefits than others. Differences in native talent will also produce big difference in the resulting benefits in a competitive system...
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...E. Johnson Coberen Mark American Intercontinental University Abstract This paper describes the effect of ethnocentrism has on the individual and society as a whole. It covers three areas affected by Ethnocentrism. Those areas, centered on Ethnocentrism, are the individual, society, and multinational corporations. Ethnocentrism’s Impact on Society Ethnocentrism is a widely used word to explain human behavior between different cultural entities. It’s when we judge another’s culture based on our own culture. In a sense, reading a book by its cover based on our own bias. Multinational corporations have many different interactions, touch points, between diverse markets, individual, and employees. Ethnocentrism should be considered when evaluating how it judge individuals, society, and multinational corporations based on our own experiences. At the individual level, ethnocentrism, can shape and influence multinational corporations, and a person’s culture simply from the process of immersion. I choose to watch “Farewell my Concubine” to gather further insight to ethnocentrism. Farewell My Concubine explores the effect of China's political turmoil during the mid-20th century on the lives of individuals, families, and groups, in this case, two stars in a Peking opera troupe and the woman who comes between them. Let’s discuss ethnocentrism and its effects, centered on Farewell my concubine. As individuals we have a tendency to draw on one’s own personal...
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...National Politics There is a widespread tendency for people to favour their own group over another group. This tendency has been variously labelled as ethnocentrism, intergroup bias, in‐group favouritism or in‐group /out group differentiation. It denotes a cultural narrowness in which the ethnically centred individual rigidly accepted those of the in‐group while rejecting those of the out‐group. In other words, Ethnocentrism is the point of view that one's own way of life is to be preferred to all others. Flowing logically from the process of early enculturation, it characterizes the way most individuals feel about their own culture, whether or not they verbalize their feeling. Therefore this essay will discuss what is understood by the term ethnocentrism and show how Ethnocentrism is bad in national politics. Firstly will define what ethnocentrism is, and discuss fully what is understood by the term. Secondly will show how ethnocentrism is bad for national politics. Thereafter a clear and concise conclusion will be drawn. Different scholars have given their understanding of the term ethnocentrism. According to anthropologists, the concept combines the belief that one’s own culture is superior to other cultures, with the practice of judging other cultures by the standards of one’s own culture (Den Van, 1970). Ethnocentrism is also defined as a feeling that one’s own group has a mode of living, values and patterns of...
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...Ethnocentrism Nichole Houghton AIU ABSTRACT There are many issues that can be attributed to an individual’s cultural beliefs and how they can relate to another individuals specific cultural beliefs and set standards. Sometimes these issues can be minor and dealt with appropriately, but in other cases these cultural differences can be monumental and cause different societies to wage wars against one another. The way that an individual judges or perceives other cultures beliefs and standards based on the guidelines of their own culture is what sociologist refer to as ethnocentrism and is what we are going to be looking at in further detail in this paper. There are many factors that contribute to the persistent societal disputes and disagreements that are forever occurring throughout the globe. There is a great divide that can be felt in regards to understanding and accepting each individual society; each one has its own unique culture and many individuals are not capable of viewing a culture different than their own without passing predisposed judgments and ideas that are typically instilled by their own culture. Ethnocentrism is a term that sociologists use to define this universally occurring unaccepting set of attitudes and behaviors. Ethnocentrism can be attributed to social evolution, local & foreign competition and can also be a result of cooperation with what is considered to be the in-groups and not the out-groups (Axelrod & Hammond, 2003). The main concept...
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...There are countless theories behind the story of everything, the story of how we exist and why. If one is not a believer in science, typically the next best choice would be religion, and the concept of a higher spiritual entity or "god". The article by Stephen Hawking unleashes a brilliant statement about how science is inherently progressive and religion is inherently conservative. Religion is relatively close minded and illogical, and is based on fundamental beliefs as opposed to empirical facts. Clearly we know that God or Gods is (are) not necessary to imagine the beginning of the universe, in our modern understanding science lays out the groundwork for what I believe to be the most viable explanation of the universe. Although, I am only a fraction of the percentage of humans who believe in these theories, as many of us do need some sort of higher entity or religion to put the universe into perspective. With so many different opinions and beliefs about the story of everything, we can start to understand the why and the how of these beliefs and empathize with the believers. In the last century alone we have begun to strung together more scientific facts about our existence than ever before, and are beginning to answer the questions that have perplexed our ancestors for so many years. Now here is the tricky part, we can understand the concept of molecules and the universe, but science states that all of this simply materialized out of nothing, otherwise known as "The Big...
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