Ethnocentrism in American Culture
Ethnocentrism is the evaluation or judgment of other cultures based on how it compares to one’s cultural norms (Matresse, 1). Though ethnocentrism is seen throughout the world, I’m sure by just stating what it is, everyone’s mind can already think of stereotypes and ethnocentric thoughts observed here in the United States. The reason behind me picking the topic around American culture is solely for the reason that this is where I have grown up and seen the most examples of this topic. Being able to look at previous civilizations and groupings of peoples, an “Us vs them” or herd type mentality was beneficial for societies to dehumanize others for gain and advance their own society (Riley,1 ). This however is not needed in our modern society, cohabitation and being able to work together as a whole has proven to be beneficial for all.
When really looking at my own past experiences of ethnocentrism in society, I think of excluding/being excluded from cliques at school, whether it be “the popular group” or a lunch table, we see smaller examples of ethnocentrism all around. On a larger scale shown in my second source, we see ethnocentrism at a level as big as our political system. There are certain political parties that base some of their policies around the demonizing of other cultures or ways of life (Santori, 1). Unfortunately, ethnocentrism is still extremely apparent in political parties and seems to be something we should be based by this point in society.
From the readings this week, we see examples of ethnocentrism as Judith Ortiz Cofer talks about how pregnant women would talk about their babies coming out “Prieto” (slang for “dark” or “black”) (Cofer, 435). This negative view of darker pigmentation comes from their societal view of it not being a norm for those Puerto Ricans of the time period and looking at it as a disadvantage for their child. Many examples like this were found in the readings from this last week and is what led me to choose this topic for our context research presentation.
Bibliography
Matresse, Cathy. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism. Lumen Learning. 2nd ed, Lumen, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/alamo-sociology/chapter/ethnocentrism-and-xenocentricism/. Accessed 5 Sep. 2020.
Santori, Christopher. Ethnocentrism in the US. The Penn State University. 1st ed, PSU, 19 Jan. 2017, https://sites.psu.edu/global/2017/01/19/ethnocentrism-in-the-us/. Accessed 5 Sep. 2020.
Riley, Alexander. Multiculturalism is Ethnocentrism. American Mind. 1st ed, A Publication of the Claremont Institute, 19 October 2019, https://americanmind.org/essays/multiculturalism-is-ethnocentrism/. Accessed 5 Sep. 2020.
Cofer, Judith Ortiz. The Story of My Body. True Woman and real men. 1st ed, https://osu.instructure.com/courses/85555/pages/recap-week-2?module_item_id=4571445. Accessed 5 Sep. 2020.
You are very accurate talking about today’s culture in America and how easy it is to use stereotypes in order to create a “us vs them” mentality. This makes me curious as to why our minds are so quick to categorize people. We are all well aware of the fact that everyone is so unique and different in their own way, yet we still make stereotypes and categories for people in order to fit them into a small slot in our brain. Maybe this is easier than learning and understanding every human we encounter? Or is this just lazy of humans to be so quick to judge?
In my opinion, I think your material is very interesting. In today’s society, people divide people into us and them because of stereotypes. Why do humans do this? Is it because of the political system, or is it because of the cultural center? Everyone is different and everyone has their own value. People should not causally discriminate against others, as you said in the article about the color of skin. There are so many such problems in society that it will take a long time to solve.
I feel like every part of our lives involves ethnocentrism. We live in an extremely diverse country where unfortunately some people believe they are above others. They use this dominance they believe they possess to do harm to others that they label as the “other” in society. I thought it was interesting when you used government as an example where we can see ethnocentrism take place. Politicians often must vilify one side to appeal even more to the side they are on. For example, President Trump continued to tweet how women should vote for him because he is protecting them by stopping low income housing in suburban neighborhoods. Although he does not specifically attribute low-income housing to a certain race or religion, he clearly is trying to vilify those who suffer from poor financial circumstances in order to appeal to the white suburban women who is “looking” for protection. I put looking in quotes because I do not believe all suburban home owners are against the low income housing, but Trump makes it seem like he is the obvious choice to protect the suburban people, which is typically white people.
Thanks for your work about mentioning ethnocentrism in America. I think this is indeed one of the most serious problems in the United States and even the world today. We can learn from the news that many people of color have been treated unfairly around us. I really like your opinion “This however is not needed in our modern society, cohabitation and being able to work together as a whole has proven to be beneficial for all.” This research will help us better understand this theme.
America is the base of ethnocentrism. This country was literally built that way. I have never looked at darker skin as a disadvantage even though the world sees it. The bias in countries and different areas, such as Puerto Rico, comes from I believe comes from the media. Even in the black American culture, there is bias in darker skin. Going back to slavery, the darker you were, you were seen as less than, worthless and the lighter skin was seen as more beautiful and closer to being white. It is a bias that has been passed for hundreds of years through many cultural backgrounds and societies. For me, I have spent my entire life wish to be darker. I guess going against the norm. My entire family is darker than I am. I am the only one who has a lighter skin tone and I was reminded of it every day of my life, even to this day. I grew up wanting to be darker, where my sister grew up disliking me because I was lighter. Where she was always told “you’re pretty for a dark skin girl” and I was just told “you’re pretty” without anything behind, no shock that I’m pretty because I’m black but just because I’m pretty.
I do not agree that the ‘us vs. them” is not needed in modern society. I honestly feel it is still happening, just on a smaller scale as not to be so obvious considering the change in time and civilization as a whole. When you think of your past experiences with ethnocentrism, you think of being excluded from a lunch table, where for me, even being lighter skinned, I think of being excluded from stores or followed in them just because I’m black. It happens to this day. I think of going to restaurants and watching how white waiters and waitresses will help tables with people that look like them, give them superior service yet, me being a black woman, sitting in the same place, never received service or even a look to ask if I was doing ok. Ethnocentrism is 100% apparent in political parties, which is shown with the current president or lack thereof. I don’t think it is something that will ever go away unfortunately. What we need is to starting viewing people as people, not as a color or competition. The world will never change until that happens. Unfortunately, I don’t see that as a possibility.
Hello, I really enjoyed reading your work, and I definitely agree that ethnocentrism plays a massive role in how we view the world, in America and beyond. Growing up in suburban Cleveland, I never really had to think too hard about being white. It wasn’t until I took ENR 2300 with Dr. Kerry Ard where I learned how it permeates every aspect of our daily lives, including political parties, like you’ve mentioned. Something I find fascinating is that perhaps the concept of believing that extraterrestrial life uses the same technology that we do, and therefore their mode of transportation would be visible to us in the form of a spacecraft we would recognize, can be described as an ethnocentric belief. The fact that we know so little about them and their “culture” and still assign our own modern technology to them never ceases to amaze me. Wonderful and insightful work!
I think the Ethnocentrism in America is interesting. On the one hand, it is a proud of nation. It is good that citizens love their country and be proud of it. On the hand, it could result Americans somewhat arrogant and have prejudice while comparing with other countries. It is a disadvantage that Americans may ignore what they are not good at. As my perspective, everyone would not like to be “the others”. It is normal that a country has ethnocentrism.
I think you did very well at explaining Ethnocentrism in America. I actually just talked about this kind of in my Diary of Systemic Injustice. We can learn from all cultures and this is definitely one of the biggest problems in the world today that needs to be fixed
As Americans, we have been raised to believe that we live in the best country in the nation and that every other country is somehow inferior in away. Because of this, we find it so easy to critique other countries on things they do that are “wrong”. We believe that just cause a certain country isn’t doing what we are doing or living up to “our standards” that they are wrong. I like how you used the example of political parties and how they “demonize” other parties or cultures of what they are doing. You further go on to explain if we cohabitate and work together, it is proven that we will make the world a better place. I agree with, and love this concept! When reading about your ethnocentric views you have noticed, I can’t help but think of my own. Growing up, something I struggled with was me thinking that the way I did something or thought of something was the right way or the only way. This simply isn’t true as I, like everyone in this world have flaws.
I love your explanation of ethnocentrism, I think your idea of the modern version really allows people to look at the bigger picture and pick out other ways it effects our world. I do agree that this is a massive problem in America and that it can positively and negatively effect us.
Very interesting research presentation on how Ethnocentrism developed in American Culture. I’m working on the similar topic with the help of https://studyclerk.com/law-research-paper but from the Law view and why it is called Intolerant justice. Hope that every person will make more research and will do something to resolve this problem in USA.
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