ETHNOCENTRISM

- Ethnocentrism is judging another culture based upon the values and standards set in one’s own
culture.
- So,Individuals who are ethnocentric will believe that their culture’s beliefs, ideas, values, and
practices are correct, and they use the standards in their own culture to assess other cultural
groups.
- It is a form of bias, where we tend to immediately judge another culture as ‘bad’ or wrong based
upon their actions, if their values are not aligned with our own beliefs.

EXAMPLE

- Indian streets foods

- They will tend to have negative attitudes towards other cultures and believe their beliefs,
ideas, values, and practices are wrong or strange.
We all do it, some time or the other, mostly not even realizing that we’re being ethnocentric at
that moment.

THE FEELING OF ETHNOCENTRISM

•The feeling of ethnocentrism is a matter of training and socialization. From birth, one is taught what
and how to eat, how to dress up, whom to worship, how to greet and say good-bye, and others. One is
imbued with the values and customs of the group and these are constantly reinforced in school, in
church, in the place of work and by mass media. Hence, one develops that attitude of regarding his or
her ways as the right ones, if not the best.

( ASK QUESTIONS)

- WHAT IS ETHNOCENTRISM
Ethnocentrism can serve as an actual force in developing among the members of a group a
sense of pride, well-being, and security. This is the aim of many of the consciousness-raising
movements of ethnic minorities and marginalized groups (Howard and Hattis 1992). This view
may strengthen group morale, enhance group solidarity and individual self-esteem, and increase
one’s appreciation of and commitment to one’s culture. On the other hand, extreme
ethnocentrism makes people unable to understand others and get along with them. Such an
attitude may lead to inter-group conflicts and problems.
- EXAMPLE SA ETHNOCENTRISM
Tagalogs think of themselves as the superior group, a view similarly held by the Muslims, the
Pampangos, Cebuanos, and others.
- AGAIN WHAT IS THE FEELING OF ETHNOCENTRISM?
a matter of training and socialization. From birth, one is taught what and how to eat, how to
dress up, whom to worship, and others one is imbued with the values and customs of the group
and these are constantly reinforced in school, in church, in the place of work and by mass
media. Hence, one develops that attitude of regarding his or her ways as the right ones, if not
the best.

- WHY IS UNDERSTANDING ETHNOCENTRISM IMPORTANT?

 Ethnocentrism can create problems in our perceptions of people, places, and cultures, especially
when approaching them without knowledge or experience of the other culture. A leader should
be aware of their own ethnocentrism, as it affects their ability to correctly perceive others.

CULTURE RELATIVISM

- The opposite view of ethnocentrism is cultural relativism, which is based on the notion that
culture is relative and no cultural practice is good and bad in itself. It is good if it integrates
smoothly with the rest of the culture. Cultural relativism is the evaluation of cultural patterns
within the context of the history, environment, and social circumstances of the people (Howard
and Hattis 1992:7). This is the view endorsed by anthropologists and sociologists in
understanding other cultures.
- The idea is to understand the behavior of an individual within the perspective of his own cultural
setting and look for the meanings that the actor has in its own values, beliefs and motives
instead of our own. This is the first step in understanding other cultures (Crapo 1990:33).

EXAMPLE

- ( BALIK ABOUT INDIAN STREET FOODS)

- (Just like Anthropologist they try to study and understand the culture and society.)

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

When the Europeans had their first contacts with people in Africa, the Americas and Asia in the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they regarded these people as barbarians, savages, or
primitive. When the anthropologists began to study the culture of other societies by living with
the people – the so called savages – they found that the preconceived notions other Europeans
held would be a deterrent to help them understand the culture of the people one is studying. So
they started to study people on their (the people’s) own terms. They made efforts to know the
people’s language and to understand the meanings of the symbols of the people they were
living with. They found it necessary to interpret the meaning or value of an act from a cultural
relativistic viewpoint. They learned to judge the customs of people that seemed inhuman or
irrational, like infanticide, polygamy, head hunting, or cannibalism, not by their own standards
but by those of the people they were studying. This does not mean that they condone or
endorse the behavior. According to Crapo (1990:34), all cultures have customs or practices that
seem strange or offensive to others. So we have to judge such culture traits or patterns in terms
of their own meaning and value in the culture of which they are part and see their function in
the life of the people.

The view of cultural relativity is that every culture must be judged by its own standards as there
is no single standard to be used in evaluating any culture. A culture trait or pattern must be
viewed in terms of its meaning function, and value in the culture of which it is a part. This notion
views each culture as being a people’s unique adjustment to a particular set of circumstances
(Howard and Hattis 1992:7).
ASK QUESTIONS

- WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT CULTURAL RELATIVISM?

The opposite of ethnocentrism. And cultures have customs or practices that seem strange or
offensive to others. So we have to judge such culture traits or patterns in terms of their own meaning
and value in the culture of which they are part and see their function in the life of the people.

- WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHNOCENTRISM & CULTURAL RELATIVISM?

Ethnocentrism compares other cultures by using a group’s specific culture as the basis of that
comparison, believing theirs to be superior and the standard to be used in comparison to other
cultures. Cultural relativism, on the other hand, believes that culture is understood best through
its own people.

- WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

I learned that Ethnocentrism occurs when one has the belief that their own cultural group is
superior to others. Individuals who are ethnocentric will believe that their culture’s beliefs, ideas,
values, and practices are correct, and they use the standards in their own culture to assess other
cultural groups. On the other hand, Cultural relativism refers to not judging a culture to our own
standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try to understand
cultural practices of other groups in its own cultural context.

- HOW WILL YOU HELP ELIMINATE ETHNOCENTRISM AND DEVELOP CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN
YOUR OWN COMMUNITIES?

This indicates that educating people about other cultures and increasing their literacy can help
reduce ethnocentrism as well as promote culture relativism. Increasing interaction between
members of different ethnic groups and between different cultures increases cultural relativism.

Another EXAMPLE

The ancient Greeks looked with contempt at foreigners; the French turned their snooty noses up
against the English; Hitler proclaimed the German superiority over the Jews; the African Whites held
the Blacks as inferior to them; and the Filipinos before World War II considered the Chinese inferior
to them. The Filipinos take pride in calling their country the "Pearl of the Orient," "the only Christian
country in Asia," the "Gateway to the East" or "the show window of democracy in the Far East."
Even within the society, subgroups consider themselves as better than the other groups. The
Tagalogs think of themselves as the superior group, a view similarly held by the Muslims, the
Pampangos, Cebuanos, and others. One's religion is spoken of as the true religion, from which one
can hope for salvation: A school may flaunt its having the highest educational standards. These are
all manifestations of ethnocentrism.

The feeling of ethnocentrism is a matter of training and socialization. From birth, one is taught
what and how to eat, how to dress up, whom to worship, how to greet and say good-bye, how
to study, how to transact business, and others. One is imbued with the values and customs of
the group and these are constantly reinforced in school, in church, in the place of work and by
 mass media. Hence, one develops that attitude of regarding his or her ways as the right ones, if
not the best.
Ethnocentrism can serve as an actual force in developing among the members of a group a
sense of pride, well-being, and security. This is the aim of many of the consciousness-raising
movements of ethnic minorities and marginalized groups (Howard and Hattis 1992). This view
may strengthen group morale, enhance group solidarity and individual self-esteem, and increase
one's appreciation of and commitment to one's culture. On the other hand, extreme
ethnocentrism makes people unable to understand others and get along with them. Such an
attitude may lead to inter-group conflicts and problems. The result may be an in-group-out-
group feeling which leads to racial intolerance and prejudice. Another consequence for a group
that may not like to mix with other peoples or groups from other cultures is that they get
isolated and eventually stagnate (Perrucci and Knudsen 1983:70).

- When a person comes in contact with a cultural group diverse from his own, the tendency is to
define reality from one’s own point of view. One looks at the other cultural ways as strange,
funny, or wrong and considers his or her ways as right, rational, and normal. The view to regard
one’s culture as right and normal, with a superior attitude, is called ethnocentrism. Literally
ethnocentrism means a belief that one’s group is the center of the universe and one scales and
rates other cultures with reference to it (Sumner 1906). It is judging the behavior of others in
relation to one’s own cultural values and tradition (Howard and Hattis 1992).