A concept that I found interesting in chapter 12 was ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is defined
as “the belief
that one's own culture is superior to all others and the tendency to judge all
cultures by one's own criteria.” I think that ethnocentrism is very common
within cultures. There have been many people that I have interacted with that
believe that their culture is above all other cultures. Although I do not agree
with it, I think that it is very common for some cultures to think that they
are superior to everyone else. I think it is especially hard for people that
have immigrated to the United States to not think they are superior because
that is all they know. Once they are exposed to other cultures they begin to
develop stereotypes and slowly start believing that their culture is superior
to all other cultures. I think that these stereotypes develop from negative experiences
that people have with other cultures and often times it is hard to break these
stereotypes because they have never experienced anything positive with that
particular culture. If more people of different cultures interacted with one
another, I don’t think that ethnocentrism would be as common as it is.
Yes i agree with you completely. There are cultures that believe that they are Superior than others, and its sad. That is why racism still exists today. When I was younger, I have came across someone who thought that their culture was better than mines. He was saying terrible ignorant things, but I just ignored him. Anyways, you have made great points and are doing a great job. Keep it up
ReplyDeleteHi Jaxfavy,
ReplyDeleteI too found this topic to be incredibly interesting, and actually used it as my own post! I think the idea of nationalism really alludes to ethnocentrism. It seems barbaric, but honestly, we are all guilty of that mindset. We are American. America is the greatest. We must help the world. Well, to some, we are far from a perfect example of how a country should function. Yet, we attempt to push our ideas on the world around us -invading nations and implementing our own ideas into their culture and government. However well-meaning we may be, the point remains that we operate under the pretense of ethnocentric thinking.
Great post.
-Tyrone Q