Why Do Some Sociologists Try To Avoid Ethnocentrism?

Ethnocentrism is defined by our tendency to judge other groups or cultures based upon our own standards establishing

Ethnocentrism is the belief in the superiority of one’s own group. It’s a universal habit that ethnocentric individuals tend to compare and judge other cultural practices to be inferior. Ethnocentrism encourages the solidarity in groups; it creates the feeling of belonging and drives the individuals to build pride in the group. However, ethnocentrism hinders the understanding of the cooperation with other groups. With the sense of superiority, there is little incentive to interact with the inferior groups. While making generalization about the culture and customs of others, ethnocentric individuals aren’t being aware that they tend to make false assumptions regarding the cultural differences. Furthermore, extreme ethnocentrism is likely to

Ethnocentrism is defined as the tendency to judge other people and cultures by the standards of one’s own culture and to believe that the behavior, customs, norms, values and other characteristics of one’s own group are natural, valid, and correct while those of other’s are unnatural, invalid and incorrect. For example, in Funny in Farsi Firoozeh experiences ethnocentrism from citizens here

The findings of E.E. Evans-Pritchard serve as an example of the importance of ethnographic fieldwork and cultural relativism. People have an inherent tendency to drift towards ethnocentrism if they do not keep an open mind about the legitimacy of foreign cultural ideas. Enculturalization occurs from the very beginning of one’s life. When one grows up in a culture that praises traits that are deemed as beneficial and discourages behaviors that are seen as harmful, one tends to develop similar beliefs on these traits and behaviors. Different cultures encourage different outlooks on society. This is the result of the environment a culture exists in. In many tribal societies, one of the primary influences on culture is the physical environment. However, in technologically-advanced societies that worry less about satisfying needs and more about fulfilling desires, social aspects are perhaps more significant. For example, note the difference between American and Japanese culture. American culture promotes individualism and free speech. Many Americans tote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights

The grandiose task of wearing another's cultural skin understandably comes with a host of opinions on how such a job can be accomplished. Anthropologists have long argued about the accuracy of ethnographies (Levinson & Ember, 1996, pp. 419-21). Much of the discussion stems from the assumption that some cultural aspects are ineffable and subconscious. Can an anthropologist approach his subject, as Spradley argues, "with a conscious attitude of almost complete ignorance"? Is it possible to consciously withhold one's own cultural interpretations while attempting to study that very thing in another culture?" (Spradley, 1979, p. 4 & Levinson & Ember, 1996, pp. 419-21).

It is not wrong to wear clothing or eat food from cultures different from your own, but the minute credit is not given to the right people is the minute one’s “appreciation” turns into appropriation.

Ethnocentrism “are the principle of using one’s own culture as a means or standard by which to evaluate another group or individual, leading to the view that cultures other than one’s own are abnormal or inferior” (Ferris, Jill Stein)(78) . The attitude is that because we believe the same way then our cultures are the same as your friends culture if you go to different churches. The reality is that cultures are all different and worship in different ways. The culture I grew up in is going to a Baptist church, and going to church every Sunday. Then I have a friend of mine that believes in what I believe in, but we worship in different ways he is goes to a non-domination church. He believes we need to stand up, dance, and raise hands to worship, but I believe going to church to singing is my worshiping. The first time I went to my friend’s church I thought it was odd the way they did the service. This is because I had grown up only going to Baptist church services. I still disagree with the way they handle their services compared to what I am used to going to, but I respect it and will still go if I am invited to respect my friend. My understanding of ethnocentrism is that we need to get out of our own comfort zones and experience life and what it has to offer. Learn other cultures, respect them, and you might learn

Exploring different cultures as well as your own in order to understand the various ways they do things compared to our own can be enlightening as well as challenging. The main challenge comes from being used to your own culture that it is difficult to view a different culture without any personal bias. Being born and raised in a culture and getting used to those norms of everyday life contributes to the bias that one may show, believing that their own culture is superior to another. This type of thought process is called ethnocentrism. But with the use of an etic and emic approach to analyze your own culture and different cultures will help eliminate ethnocentrism. Using an outsider’s

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

Additionally, by studying class, sociologists allow themselves a greater understanding of the apparent ‘class conflict’ which is suggested by Marx. Although Marx’s understanding of class is outdated, due to its reliance on people’s relationship to the means of production being the main influence over their class, and its lack of consideration towards the social or cultural aspects of class (McLellan, 1986), his understanding of the conflicting interests of the classes bridges an important gap between the personal influence of class on people’s lives, and how this impacts society as a whole. Furthermore, sociologists study class because of its influence over society and its structure, as Marx said ‘the history of all hitherto existing society is a history of class struggles’ (Cannadine, 2000, p. 1). Thus, class must be studied in order to

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.

The world has millions of people of diverse cultural backgrounds. They have their own beliefs, food habits, art forms, and dressing styles. Since ancient times, these people are coming across each other and are exchanging their ideas. However, sometimes people turn hostile because of their cultural prejudices. This tendency to judge the other people based on the standards of his or her own culture is cultural bias. It is a major hindrance in performing a cross-cultural research. A person who is culturally biased ignores the differences that exist between his own culture and other cultures. Cultural bias can stereotype a culture. When a person says his cultures superior to others, he is undoubtedly culturally biased. Such a person never appreciates

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.

A common saying goes like this, "You cannot judge a book by its cover." This saying may have many meanings, but to a social and cultural anthropologist, it signifies that no-one should pre-judge others on their values, beliefs and interests just by their appearance. In order to understand and be familiar with a culture, one has to perform a series of ethnographic research from fieldwork, participant observation, ethnology to something as accessible as interviewing someone in your community. From this, you can unearth what influences people's personalities and beliefs, which may involve a mixture of their culture, family values and personal beliefs. I have done an ethnographic study by

One must also beware of ethnocentrism, or a belief in the superiority of one 's own culture. Individuals who are ethnocentric frequently demonstrate disregard for other cultures.