Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is the degree to which individuals judge other cultures as inferior to their own culture. The concept of ethnocentrism comes from two Greek words (ethos, people or nation, and ketron, center) which mean being centered on one’s cultural group (and thus judging other cultures by one’s cultural values). No one is born with ethnocentrism. It has to be taught. Everyone learns to be ethnocentric, at least to a certain degree. The concept of ethnocentrism may be divided into two parts: the belief in the superiority of one’s own group and the consequent belief that other groups are inferior. It is quite natural to feel that one’s own group is the best, whether a country or a culture. The problems arise not from feeling pride in one’s own culture but from drawing the unnecessary conclusion that other cultures are inferior. Ethnocentrism is a block to effective intercultural communication because it prevents understanding unalike others.

Ethnocentrism is not just an intellectual matter of making comparisons with another culture; emotions are involved. The symbols of one’s ethnicity, religion, or national ingroup become objects of pride, while the symbols of an outgroup (a flag, for example) become objects of contempt and hatred. Outgroup members are perceived as inferior and perhaps immoral. For example, European colonialists often perceived the native people that they conquered in Latin America, Africa, and Asia as subhuman. Extreme ethnocentrism may lead to conflict and even to warfare with an outgroup.Many languages inherently convey a certain degree of ethnocentrism. For instance, the word for the language of the Navajo people, Dine, means “the people”. So all non-Dine are, by implication, non-people. An ethnocentric parallel exists in many other languages. For example, La Raza (Spanish for “The Race”) implies exclusivity for Latinos in the United States. The word for foreigner in most languages is negative, implying something that is undesirable. An example is the expression “a foreign object in my eye”. In Hindi, the word for foreigner is ferengi. This word is not a compliment in India. The Chinese refer to their own country as “the Middle Kingdom”, implying that it is the center of the world. Similarly, people living in the United States refer to themselves as “Americans”, forgetting that everyone who lives in North America, South America, and Central America are also Americans. Ethnocentrism tends to be the strongest concerning outgroups that are most socially distant and most unlike the ingroup. At least some degree of ethnocentrism is almost always involved in intercultural communication and is a barrier to communication effectiveness. An individual who despises a particular outgroup because he/she perceives that outgroup ethnocentrically will not be able to exchange meaningful information with that outgroup.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1124