Ethnocentrism is a topic I learned about in International Marketing last semester. It was very interesting hearing examples of this close minded way if thinking that unfortunately most of us do subconsciously. Ethnocentrism, if you are not familiar, is the "belief that one's native country, culture, language, and behavior are superior." This thought has been around for centuries, in just America the Natives Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and now Muslims went through this misrepresentation or prejudice. In the small exert of our text book on Organizational Behavior, "Muslim-American's Feel the Sting of Ethnocentrism," a number of statistic were listed that even though I do not have any personal animosity toward Muslim American due to my own beliefs of 9-11, I was still surprised.
I have two major problems with the way people view other cultures and how they are addressed in relation to this small exert. The only information we know about 9-11 was posted by government agencies who showed us what they wanted us to see and depicted this race in a negative manner making the sponge-like American brain believe every word fed to them. Then you wonder why there is so much prejudice. Another problem I have is in the example of this car dealership in Ohio. Due to the fact that Keith Dennis is a single standing American making these racist comments he is looked down upon but if this type of joke were posted in Time magazine as a political cartoon it would get a different reaction. Ethnocentrism will never stop if we continue to allow these misrepresentations occur. It is obvious you cannot know a person solely on their nationality so why is it that we judge so much on what we see?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I remember covering a lot of this stuff in international marketing, especially culture shock, ethnocentrism, high and low context cultures, and monochromatic vs polychromatic time. While it's true that the government didn't win very many race-relation points with their assessment of Muslims after 9/11, it resonated with a surprising amount of core republicans (southerners who already had their own crazy ideas). in an increasingly multicultural world, it becomes less and less constructive to view your own culture as superior in any way.
ReplyDeleteThe topic of ethnocentrism is beginning to appear in places you wouldn't expect. For example in my Speech and Rhetoric class it is discussed in a manner so presenters and speech givers (along with business executives alike) can earn the respect of their audience (and employees) and communicate effectively so they can earn respect of those around them.
ReplyDeleteThe topic of ethnocentrism has interested me since I heard about it last year. I am constantly surprised how closed minded people still are in our modern society. You would think that prejudice would be on its way out by now but it is still around and I encounter it almost everyday and feel sad that our society still puts up with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree, we must all work to surpass the limits of ethnocentrism. No culture is better than another in any way; instead, all cultures must be valued, and we must realize that we can learn something from people of different backgrounds. I believe society has become better over time, and is still continuing to improve, but there are still many people who have subconscious and conscious beliefs that promote ethnocentric values.
ReplyDeleteAll cultures have their ups and downs, and therefore individuals can not walk around feeling like their culture is better, because no one culture is better than another. Times are changing but this idea of ethnocentrism has not changed and people still feel that their culture is superior to others. That shouldn't be the case because history has shown us the injustices that have been committed due to this idea/belief. I agree we should all be trying to move forward to learn to appreciate all other cultures worldwide.
ReplyDelete