When anthropologists first studied people hundreds of years ago they noted that

Question

When anthropologists first studied people hundreds of years ago they noted that all people they studied were ethnocentric. Ethnocentrism is still major social problem we face in the United States as well as the world over.

In a 1-2 page paper, address the following:

Define ethnocentrism.

Explain how ethnocentrism can be both positive and negative for a culture and present ways that ethnocentrism can be combated or stopped.

Include any instances of ethnocentrism that you have witnessed in your life or recall a time when you made assumptions that were culturally biased.

Explanation / Answer

Answer:

Ethnocentrism, in a lay man's word can be defined as ' a belief in the superiority of one's own ethnic group'. Ethnic means ' denoting or deriving from or distinctive of the ways of living built up by a group of people'. Ethnocentrism means judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture. Ethnocentric individuals judge other groups relative to their own ethnic group or culture, especially with concern for language, behavior, customs, and religion.

It is true that Ethnocentrism can be both positive and negative for a culture. When this belief is used and directed towards analysing the goodness in other cultures and trying to inculcate them with required modifications in one's own culture then, at this stage ethnocentrism proves to be possitive and improves cultures all over the world. On the contrary when ethnocentrism is used to make other cultures belive that they are weaker or unethical then it leads to a negative prospective.

The most important way to combat with harmful effects of ethnocentrism or to stop its harmful effects is to make people aware of the benefits of all the cultures and at the same time make them aware that no culture is perfect and no culture is superior to others but all have their own possitive aspects ans negative aspects. People must be taught to respect all the cultures as much as they respect their own.

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