User:Ali.panta/Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism

The Earth

Ethnocentrism is seeing one's culture as superior. Ethnocentrism is a term mostly used in social sciences to refer to the act of believing that one's culture is superior to other cultures. This term passed from social sciences to colloquial English discourse during the twentieth century; in its common usage, it means culturally biased judgment. In this way, this term refers to when we apply our own culture as a frame of reference in order to judge others' cultural practices, actions, believes, or persons. This view has some people thinking that their culture is the correct way of life and they see other peoples' way of life strange or incorrect; this clash usually happens between the Global South and the Global North, which is evidenced in the media. Ethnocentrism can be related to racism. However, they are different because the term ethnocentrism does not necessarily involve a negative view of the others' race. This term is also associated with stereotyping, discrimination, or xenophobia. Nevertheless, ethnocentrism does not necessarily implicate a negative connotation. The opposite of ethnocentrism is cultural relativism, which means to understand a different culture in its own terms without being judgmental.

Origin of the word

Greek alphabet

The term ethnocentrism derives from two Greek words: 'ethnos' and 'kentron'. In Greek, 'ethnos' means nation and 'kentron' center. The origin of this term is attributed to the sociologist William Graham Sumner in 1906. In his book Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usage, Manner, Customs, Mores, and Morals (1906), Sumner introduced this term in order to discuss biased judgment. This discussion about ethnocentrism in Sumner's book is still a primary source of theory in this subject. Many scholars studying ethnocentrism use Sumner's definition to offer an introductory definition of the term.

Ethnocentrism in social sciences

William Graham Sumner

In social sciences, ethnocentrism means to judge another culture based on the standard of one's own culture instead of the standard of the other particular culture. This means that usually, people tend to use their own culture as a parameter to measure other cultures and see them as inferior. People that practice ethnocentrism tends to think that their culture is superior and see other cultures as inferior and bizarre. Ethnocentrism can be explained at different levels of analysis. For example, at an intergroup level, this term is seen as a consequence of a conflict between groups; while at the individual level, in-group cohesion and out-group hostility can explain personality traits. Also, ethnocentrism can helps us to explain the construction of identity. Ethnocentrism can explain the basis of one's identity by excluding the outgroup that is the target of ethnocentric sentiments and used as a way of distinguishing oneself from other groups that can be more or less tolerant. This practice in social interactions creates social boundaries, such boundaries define and draw symbolic boundaries of the group that one wants to be associated with or belong to. In this way, ethnocentrism is a term not only limited to anthropology but also can be applied to other fields of social sciences like sociology or psychology.

Ethnocentrism and Racism

Ethnocentrism is usually associated with racism. However, as mentioned before, ethnocentrism does not necessarily implicate a negative connotation. In European research the term racism is not linked to ethnocentrism because Europeans avoid applying the concept of race to humans; meanwhile, using this term is not a problem for American researchers. Since ethnocentrism implicated a strong identification with one's in-group, it mostly automatically leads to negative feelings and stereotyping to the members of the outgroup, which can be confused with racism. Finally, scholars agree that avoiding stereotypes is an indispensable prerequisite to overcome ethnocentrism; and mass media play a key role regarding this issue.

Ethnocentrism in the media

Ethnocentrism in Western Films

Mass media plays an important role in our current society. We are constantly exposed to media content every day. Researchers had found that ethnocentrism is dysfunctional in communication and similar fields because the lack of acceptance of other cultures leads to the creation of barriers for people of different backgrounds to interact with each other. The presence of ethnocentrism in media content creates an issue in the exchange of messages in the communication process. The media industry is dominated by the Global North, so Western ethnocentrism tends to be exposed in the media. This can be seen in the predominance of Westerner content in TV shows, film, and other forms of mass media. Some Western shows tend to depict foreign cultures as inferior or strange in contrast to their own culture.

Film

Aladdin from Disney as and example of ethnocentrism

Cinema has been around our society since the beginning of the 20th century, and it is an important tool that allow to entertain and/or educate the viewer. Western companies are usually the leaders of the film industry. Thus, it is common to be exposed to content based on Westerners' point of view. Examples of ethnocentrism are constantly seen in films whether intentionally or unintentionally. A clear example of this can be seen on the American animated film Aladdin by Disney in 1992; the opening song of the movie is "Arabian Nights," it is mentioned on the lyrics that that land "it's barbaric, hey, but it's home," which had caused debates among the audience because it could lead to thinking that the Arabic culture is barbaric. Examples like this abound on many Hollywood films. Experts on the field propose that a way of overcoming ethnocentrism is to avoid the use of stereotypes in films. Therefore, the presence of ethnocentrism in cinema leads to stereotypical images of cultures that are different to ours.

Social Media

Ethnocentrism in social media

Social media plays an essential role in society, and it is considered an important part of human life. Similarly to the film industry, social media platforms are mainly owned by Western companies. For example, in the present, the most popular social media platforms are Facebook and Instagram, which are owned by the American Mark Zuckerberg. In today's world, a considerable amount of people is exposed to social media, whose purpose is to encourage interaction among users. Social media has been associated with increase of access and interaction, and a tool created for information delivery and exchange of information. However, that exchange of information can be blocked by ethnocentrism because it can diminish the interest of interacting with people from other cultures, it also can act as a discouraging factor in pursuing intercultural friendships. In this way, ethnocentrism affects social media not only because the majority of the content came from the West but also because it can decrease the interaction with other users due to their culture.