Ethnocentrism And Social Identity Essay

My cultural ancestry comes from a Cuban and Mexican decent. I have chosen to write about my Cuban side because I can relate to them more than I could with my Mexican side. I was raised around my Cuban family and would occasionally see my Mexican side due to them living so far away. I have spent a lot more time associating with Cubans and have adapted to more of their habits.

As American labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez expressed, “Preservation of one's own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” Respecting everyone’s culture is a necessity, no matter their ethnic background, or if they stand out in society. Language, customs, food, and religion are all parts of a culture everyone possesses. All individuals have a viewpoint, a perspective of what cultures the world around them is compromised of. The culture in every human influences how they view the world around them by hiding one’s own culture, giving people biased views of others’ ethnicities, and weighing down the minority groups.

Cultural Identity is “The definition of groups or individuals (by themselves or others) in terms of cultural or subcultural categories (including ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, and gender)” (Oxford Reference). Everyone has cultural identity even though some are unaware of theirs because their habits and traditions might be seen as normal to the person and they might not make the connection that it is a cultural tradition or connected to their cultural identity. Some people are very aware of their cultural identity and have conflict within their identity because the cultures may not coincide. Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait: On the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States and Pat Mora’s “Legal Alien” both show cultural conflict through symbolism, conflict, and purpose.

Social identity theory proposed by Tajfel & Turner (2004) is a theory of group membership and behaviour which has made significant contributions in explaining in-group favouritism, out-group denigration, competition and other interactions of an individual among social groups (Korte, 2007; Brown, 2000; Tajfel & Turner, 2004). Social identity theory can be defined as an individual’s sense of who they are based on the group that they belong to through a process of self-categorisation and depersonalisation (Tajfel & Turner, 2004). In this essay, I will define social identity theory through its three mental processes involved in group evaluation which are: social identification which is a process whereby we are placed into certain

In growing up in the position of the ‘other’ in society, Smith provides an empowered stance of identity exclusively through the demonstration of cultural hybridity, as evidenced by Millat and his gangster crew, the Raggastani’s. As Millat becomes increasingly connected to a swaggering identity highlighted by Western popular culture, his sense of belonging becomes established with the multicultural mix of South Asian and Caribbean teens he hangs out with: “It was a new breed, just recently joining the ranks of the other street crews. Becks, B-boys, Nation Brothers, Raggas, and Pakis; manifesting itself as a kind of cultural mongrel of the last three categories. Their ethos, their manifesto, if it could be called that, was equally a hybrid thing” (193). Here, Smith uses the Raggastani’s as a symbol representing the emerging identity of a multicultural London transformed by the migration of formerly colonized populations from South Asia and the Caribbean. Their mission, to put the “invincible back in Indian, the Bad-aaaass back in Bengali, the P-Funk back in Pakistani” (193), is about taking their identities which have been devalued in Western society and linking them together through a collective sense of approval. As a productive example of cultural hybridity taking place, they are a direct contrast with the forms of difference and racial purity that the Chalfen`s represent, and the resistance of letting go of traditions that their parents uphold. The group tries on a series

People think of me as a girl that stay to herself but I am a black african american and my cultural identity is dancing i love to dance dancing is my life i could dance all day and night my mom said i been dancing since i was just 3 years old i dance kinda good i don’t dance that good to be a dance star but i’m going keep trying and trying and one day i’m make it there, i like to dress in a hip-hop kind of way because it’s just the way i am i dress in a way to explain me or i dress in the way my mood is , I love to eat gumbo , gumbo is the food that bring my family together , like it could be a hot sunny day and my mom cook gumbo then my mom would call them tell and they would pull up 20 mins later we a family that like to eat gumbo my family is loud they louder then 1000 people in a mall they very loud

In this essay, I will be discussing Race and Ethnic Identity, and how it is racially constructed. I found the presentation very interesting, to the point that most of my guesses were wrong, just based off the looks and perception of the celebrities. This presentation made me actually look at race and appearance in a different way because you never know what the person ethnic background is by just looking at the person. I have learned a lot on race and ethnicity and how things were categorized in the past, and as the years passed that other categories were put in to place for people to choose the identity that they were comfortable with choosing.

I learned this week about minority-group responses how minority’s identity is affected by the social sigma and relationships formed during their integration. I had not thought about how a person may feel when leaving their home country and at times their family to pursue another home and life. Immigrants face many obstacles in the integration process, attempting to find a job, home, people that they can relate to. Not only the physical aspect of the transition of coming to America but also the stigma of how “American’s” view immigrants when they are in their workplace or hometown.

Within the frames of the new reality, those immigrants face myriad problems associated with finding their way to cope with the assumed expectations and identifying their relatively split identities. This leads to a multi-level conflict that results from the conception or definition of national identity according to the visionary of state versus the socio-cultural diversity reflected in real life.

Social identity is a theory which explains how people develop a sense of belong and membership to a group. Individual’s social identity is part of their self-concept which derives from their knowledge of their membership of a social group together with the emotional significance attached to that membership (Forsyth, 13). People are influenced on the group they belong to. Belonging to the in-group makes a person feel good because they belong somewhere in this group and allows them to feel important. The out-group is where people feel to be, they do not belong to a group and have feeling of exclusion and are often times treated more harshly than someone who belongs to the ingroup. This bias of favoring the ingroup relative to the outgroup leads to false impressions being made and stereotypes forming. Stereotypes help us navigate the world around us by providing a quick representation of what we think a person is like. This does not mean our perceptions are always correct and occasionally, this quick mental shortcut can get us into trouble. For example, the film 12 Angry Men stereotyping was rampant among the jury. When a stereotype is used it can cause a disruption of procedures. Instead, of inspecting all the evidence with an objective eye a bias can allow for systematic

The social identity theory is a theory developed by Henry Tajfel, in which Tajfel believes that who we are socially determines how many positive feelings we have towards ourselves. Basically, if we like where we stand socially, then we will like who we are and display happiness. In this theory, Tajfel labels the “in group” and the “out group” and says that we will always compare our “in group” to another’s “out group.” By comparing these groups, we develop a better personal view on ourselves (King, 2009). A big factor of the social identity theory is that the groups will tend to critique the differences of the groups, and overlook the similarities. A modern day example of the social identity theory would be your everyday high school cheerleaders versus band members. The cheerleaders think of themselves as the queen bees of the school,

We as humans tend to relate to those that are similar to us, and tend to alienate those that we deem as different than us. Whether it is by race, gender, culture, or religion, it is something that is almost always present in human interactions, and often times can be completely subconscious. In our textbook Interpersonal Communication by Kory Floyd, an ingroup is defined as “A group of people with whom one identifies.” An outgroup is conversely defined as “A group of people whom one does not identify.” Henri Tajfel first coined this terminology while he was working to devise his social identity theory. These ideas of classifying people into ingroups and outgroups can lead to many

“A certain moral imbecility marks all ethnocentric movements.”- I.F. Stone. Ethnocentrism is a theme that clouds the progress of society as it comes to the grisly conclusion that one ethnicity is inherently superior to all others. Stone was trying to state that ethnocentrism breeds the evil that casts a dark shadow over humanity. When viewing the cultural, historical, and ethical arguments; about ethnocentrism and how it influences Western societies, one can see the detrimental effects it has on minorities and on different ethnic regions.

After taking the Generalized Ethnocentrism Scale, the assessment showed that I have lower ethnocentrism. I do agree with because I accept everyone and I don't believe it right to judge others because they are different and have different values. For most of the responses I disagreed or had a neutral response. When interacting and communicating with others from other cultures, I am very interested in their customs and lifestyles. Many of my friends are Hispanic and I have always enjoyed going to fiestas with them and spending Christmas with them because its different than my own culture. According to the textbook my believe that, "In not looking past their own culture, people see little importance in understanding other cultures. At high levels,

How can the development of national identity lead to loyalty and conflict for an individual?