Ethnocentrism Culture and Social Integration Essay example

Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of ones own culture. Ethnocentrism often bring about the belief that ones own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or are superior to those of other groups. Ethnocentrism can have both a positive and negative effect in one’s personal life. â€Å"On the positive side, it creates in-group loyalties. On the negative side, ethnocentrism can lead to discrimination against people whose ways differ from ours†(Henslin 2006:33). The positive definition defines ethnocentrism as â€Å"the point of view that one’s own way of life is to be preferred to all others† (Herskovits 1973: 21). There is nothing wrong with such feelings, because â€Å"it†¦show more content†¦Ethnocentrism was what came between the white and black people for centuries. Even today, in 2007, white and black people are both suffering the consequences of the past ethnocentrism. Another example of t his is when Adolph Hitler and his Nazi followers thought they were better then the Jewish people and even judged the Jewish people to be lower than dirt. This case of ethnocentrism lead to the horrifying deaths of about six million Jewish people. Hitlers ethnocentric mindset eventually led to World War 2. Ethnocentrism becomes negative when â€Å" one’s own group becomes the center of everything, and all other are scaled and rated with reference to it†(Herskovits 1973:21). It reaches extreme negative form when â€Å"a more powerful group not only imposes its rule on another, but actively depreciates the things they hold to be of value† (Herskovits 1973:103). In conclusion, ethnocentrism can be both a bad and good thing. It is good to be proud of ones heritage, country, and culture. Ethnocentrism can lead to social integration and strong personal, patriotism, and group ties. Extreme ethnocentrism can breed racism, hate crimes, and even wars. The worse cases of et hnocentrism can be seen in World War 2 and Civil War 2. Instead of people getting mad when others are being a little bit ethnocentric, they should first see the ethnocentrism in themselves. Then they should learn that a persons ethnocentrism is what their biases are. It is onlyShow MoreRelatedMusic Integration : Balance Between Western Music Culture And Other Music Cultures Essay1496 Words   |  6 PagesMusic Integration: Balance between western music culture and other music cultures Introduction Nowadays, with the development of the transportation and network, people can be easily exposed to different cultures from all over the world. It leads to a problem that how to set some criterions when different cultures has their own ways to measure. The culture also includes music culture. Michael B. Bakan states in his book that the term music is inescapably tied to Western culture and its assumptionsRead MoreCultural Expectations Vs. 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