9/21/13
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
This week we discussed the difference between ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view the world through the perspective of one's own culture. There are positive and negative connotations with ethnocentrism. It creates higher unity and nationalism, but it also creates bias and inferiority of other cultures. When referring to ethnocentrism, it basically involves one group of people making judgments toward another. This leads to the belief that one's own race or ethnic group is superior and the language, behavior, customs, and religion of a particular group is subordinate. By using this methodology to try and understand culture, the study is already biased. It's natural to try and comprehend the customs of different people around the world through our own ideologies. The thought of having a clean slate and simply experiencing things for the first time is impossible. We already established a foundation in our minds that can not be altered. That foundation will always try to interpret what one experiences based on their own culture. Ethnocentrism is important to have because it gives people self-identity and pride in one's origins. However, ethnocentrism should be handled with care since a bloated sense of nationalism only provides arrogant viewpoints. There are methods of reducing ethnocentrism in order to provide unbiased and accurate research.
Cultural relativism, on the other hand, simply means that it is impossible to translate the values and concepts of one's culture is the belief, but should be treated respectfully and with an open mind. Branching from the idea that nobody comes comes a neutral position, the best way to interpret other cultures is acknowledgement. Ignorance is an extreme of ethnocentrism. Everyone conducting research should have the mindset that they are not neutral and by acknowledging that fact, research can by more focused on the norms of a certain culture rather than the ideals of their own society. Some professional researchers have difficulty brushing away their own opinions out of their studies. Doing this will make you more aware of your surroundings and allows you to conduct conclusions equitably.
I used this video because it provides examples of both ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. It provides greater support to my explanations of the two terms. The key idea here is that it is alright to compare two cultures, but it is unacceptable to think that one is superior than the other. Society can not be understood by watching the news or reading articles, for they only touch the surface. There is more to people than what meets the eye and the only way to understand is to experience it yourself. Culture is wonderful and it's our differences that makes life interesting.
It is true that while we cannot remove our past experiences and cannot completely have a clean slate we as people, and especially sociologists, need to try to look at other cultures beyond our realm. I really liked this idea, "ethnocentrism should be handled with care since a bloated sense of nationalism only provides arrogant viewpoints." It means you understand how cautious we must be. I think it would be great if you added possible solutions to look at studying with cultural realism. This way we can start being proactive against being biased. Or if you believe ethnocentrism is a better way to explore sociology then giving specific examples of how we can benefit even if they are hypothetical. It was an intersting piece to read and good media source addition!
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's important to have a sense of national pride to a certain extent, so long as you feel that your government and the majority population are leading your country in a good direction. However, I would argue that ethnocentrism and nationalism are not the same thing. As citizens of the US, imbued with the ideal of the "melting pot" since primary school (whether that be ultimately counter-progressive or not), we understand fairly well that a nation often doesn't consist of one single ethnicity. I personally feel that ethnocentrism is more damaging to a nation's unity than most outside forces, as it often manifests more as racism than anything else. If the people of a country indulge in ethnocentrism, it puts them at odds with each other, often violently, as we see in the clashes between Tutsi and the Hutus in Rwanda, or the rise of the KKK in the US. On the whole, I agree with your post, and I appreciate that it provoked my thought about ethnocentrism vs. nationalism.
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