Department of Anthropology Introduction to Social Cultural Anthropology Anth101 010 Spring 2008 ETHNOCENTRISM If the above picture was in color you would see a predominance of red in clothing and headdress The picture is one of a Chinese wedding One obvious difference is the symbolic difference in the meaning of color The color red for the Chinese means good fortune health and prosperity as well as happiness On the other hand in Western culture marriages and usually the first marriage only the color white carries symbolic value as it stands for purity vulnerability and youth If someone said that red was the wrong color for a wedding and that white was the proper color for wedding garments they would be ethnocentric We are ethnocentric when we believe that our culture its beliefs practices and behaviors are right and superior or more advanced than other cultures who we judge to be inferior or primitive We judge other cultures and their members according to the standards of our own culture Ethnocentrism leads us to make false assumptions about cultural differences We are ethnocentric when we use our cultural norms to make generalizations about other peoples cultures and customs Such generalizations often made without a conscious awareness that we ve used our culture as a universal yardstick can be way off base and cause us to misjudge other peoples Ethnocentrism also distorts communication between human beings Ethnocentric thinking causes us to make wrong assumptions about other people because ethnocentrism leads us to make premature judgments They may not be very good at what we are best at By evaluating them by what we are best at we miss the many other aspects of life that they often handle more competently than we do Some Examples of Ethnocentric thinking We often talk about British drivers driving on the wrong side of the road Why not just say opposite side or even left hand side We talk about written Hebrew as reading backwards Why not just say from right to left or in the opposite direction from English Cultural Awareness is more than just realizing that another culture is different from ours It is learning to value that other culture So how do we get to that point First by practicing cultural relativism which means that each cultural act behavior practice belief value and thinking must be understood within the whole context of that specific culture Reject Our Way is The Best Way because here difference means deficient The belief that our culture is superior to all other cultures is ethnocentric Adopt an alternative mind set Wait a minute there may be another way Awareness of alternative ways of living creates some sensitivity to cultural lenses Educate yourself Move to the position where you understand there are reasons why people live think behave and respond differently The mind set here is one of favorable acceptance and respect for cultural differences End up at this place Multi cultural living can enhance our lives and even be fun Mindset is one of appreciation for the ways we are different and the ways we are similar It is a position of esteem for everyone involves
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