Ethnocentrism Examples

Ethnography tells about a culture and the members that comprise this culture. A definition is the scientific description of the customs and individual people of a culture. The process of doing this assignment allowed me to explore another aspect of a cultural group. I was able to learn extensively about interactions between individuals and how see them as a culture. The group that comprises my ethnography is a cultural group very common to Utah. The culture I focused on was the LDS culture, to be more specific I studied a sub-culture of this group. My subculture was a group of 12 year old adolescents that are a Sunday school class in this culture.

This problem is called Colorism. Colorism is racial bias, both intra and interracial, based on the tone of one’s skin. This can be as minor as social interactions, and as major as segregation. Colorism is a real and relevant problem; According to Shankar Vedantam, a writer for the New York Times, we have a way of thinking based off of “culture and history,” which tends to subconsciously privilege those who have lighter skinned as opposed to darker skin.

Society has a way of making assumptions based on one’s physical characteristics. Often at times we categorize individuals to a particular social group. In regard to society’ perception of an individual this however, contributes to the development of social construction of racism. Most people want to be identified as individuals rather than a member of specific social group. As a result, our social identity contains different categories or components that were influenced or imposed. For example, I identify as a, Jamaican, Puerto Rican and a person of color. I identify racially as a person of color and ethically as Jamaican and Puerto Rican. According to Miller and Garren it’s a natural human response for people to make assumptions solely

Prior to taking this course, I was taught, and therefore was under the impression, that prejudice is a preconceived notion about a group and that racism is essentially the same thing, except that racism also encompasses the idea that the group is lesser. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva states that “for most whites, racism is prejudice; for most people of color, racism is systemic or institutionalized” (Bonilla-Silva, 2010). Quotes like this force me to reflect, both on how I see myself and how others see me. Reading that quote, I felt like I related more to ‘most whites’ because I believed that racism was essentially prejudice for so long. I remember once while doing a cross the line activity, I hesitated before moving when the facilitator said “step forward if you are a person on color.” Technically, yes, my skin is pigmented in a way that would qualify me as a person of color but there is a connotation with that phrase that I felt didn’t relate to me. My first reaction to that phrase is the thought of someone who has struggled, someone who faces racism on a regular basis, someone who is treated differently because of the color of their skin. In my opinion, the more others acknowledge a part of your identity, the more apparent that part of your identity is to you, and I don’t often feel that people acknowledge my identity as an Asian American. I’ve been called a coconut more times than I can count. Brown on the outside but white on the inside. Sure I look brown, but I don’t ‘act

Ethnocentricity is being centred on a specific ethnic group, usually one's own. An example of ethnocentricity in the public services is in training. Every public service member is taught to not let ethnocentric views affect their behaviour towards others. Currently there has been no media reporting’s of ethnocentricity within the UK public services.

Defining someone by their skin color is an everyday phenomenon. Many people see a specific shade of skin and believe they know exactly how that person is going to speak, carry, and illustrate themselves. It seems to be embedded in one’s head at a young age to have specific views given by family, friends, and coworkers such as, believing interracial relationships are immoral, or it being acceptable to judge others according to their skin color. In the articles “Race is a Four Letter Word” by Teja Arboleda and “Mr. Z” by M. Carl Holman, the color of the authors skin plays a substantial role on how they are treated and perceived. Living in a society that doesn’t understand one’s culture can make their life extremely difficult.

Humans are unique in the natural world as we are the only species to self divide our populations into groups based upon physical characteristics, the main one being skin color. As the most advanced spcecies on Earth we have come to have the most convoluted approach to how we perceive people. Our society has become obsessed with classifying our population into groups based upon skin tone or ethnic background. This approach has permeated our lives to such an extent that even the simple act of filling out paperwork asks one to classify themselves as a particular race. In this world of advanced technology and education one must question how we have become controlled by such an abstract thought? How have we allowed our citizens to become reduced to a mere color?

Societal views have been changing since the beginning of time, and they still are morphing, but one that has not changed is labeling others because the rest of the world does. People used to think that African Americans were a disease and were not

As in the Spanish Colonial period, the Spanish classified the mestizos, Spanish mixed with indigenous, as different. Since the start of the new era, humans classified whiter skin to a high social status and darker skin as slaves or lower social status. While moving at the age of nine to the United States I was profiled based on my appearance, race, the difference in culture, language and social differences. While growing up, I had to learn that not everyone was willing to accept foreigners and respect people who are different. Because of the stereotypes that people believed in Mexicans: as being illegal immigrants, unable to speak the English language, or being a gang member. Currently, I have experienced many of

In Mary Rowlandson's A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Rowlandson, ethnocentric bias is clearly evident throughout the entire narrative. Ethnocentrism is the judgment of other cultures according to the standards of one's own cultural values or being closed-minded about the lifestyle of another ethnic and/or cultural group. Mary Rowlandson's narrative has many examples supporting the notion that Puritans are ethnocentric in their worldview.

In the essay tittled “Blaxicans” and other Reinvented Americans the author Richard Rodriguez talks about race and about classifying people based on their looks ethnicity and that throughout time people have developed this perspective that they need to fit in one of the categories that the society gives them. In the essay Rodriguez talks about America and how it is populated by immigrants from around the world. He then asserts that we cannot assign a race name to any citizen because everyone can be multiple races and there is no word in the english vocabulary that can describe their race. According to Rodriguez Americans tend to create labels to classify people in the simplest form

Ethnocentrism is defined as, “having or based on the idea that your own group or culture is better or more important than others.” Society is impacted by everything from media exposure to political agendas. A good example of this can be found in America’s recent history with countries in the Middle East. Issues ranging from energy and oil to a campaign against terrorism have created strained relationships between the United States and countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, it is nearly impossible to watch an evening news program on American television that does not contain a story related to current events in the Middle

People who are ethnocentric are judging other on the basis of their own culture, especially for language, behavior, customs, and religion.

A concept that has helped me to understand the social world is ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is defined as the attitude that one 's own culture is the best and others are inferior. On the micro level, it is now clear to me that I have demonstrated ethnocentrism in my dealings with individuals and this might account for some of the problems that have come about in individual friendships. On the macro level, ethnocentrism has helped me to understand why world peace is so elusive.

Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism are two contrasting terms that are displayed by different people all over the world. Simply put, ethnocentrism is defined as “judging other groups from the perspective of one’s own cultural point of view.” Cultural relativism, on the other hand, is defined as “the view that all beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is relative, depending on the situation, environment, and individual.” Each of these ideas has found its way into the minds of people worldwide. The difficult part is attempting to understand why an individual portrays one or the other. It is a question that anthropologists have been asking themselves for years.