William Sumner said it best when he described ethnocentrism as “the technical name for this view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything‚ and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it” (Sumner‚ 1906).Now‚ ethnocentric thinking is born‚ in the most basic form‚ from the belief in a useful quality in every person’s culture. This useful quality‚ or virtue as this paper will refer to it‚ can be one or many and about any area of society. When one identifies with this virtue
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In our day of age‚ we as the United States of America usually believe that we are better than other countries. A lot of people even get into debate on this subject. This is where the definition of ethnocentrism comes to play‚ which is how we tend to view other cultures based on how we compare it to our own culture‚ which makes us believe wrong things about that cultures or even judge that cultures in a bad light. But we should not do this because other cultures have their way of doing things for
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Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one’s ethnic or cultural group is centrally important‚ and that all other groups are measured on one’s own cultural value. Ethnocentrism happens when one culture or nation places itself at the top of a self proclaimed hierarchy of cultures and nations and subsequently assigns other cultures and nations equivalent or lower value based on that scale. In other words‚ it is the proneness to think other cultures are of lesser worth because it is different
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Human Communication. A Publication of the Pacific and Asian Communication Association. Vol. 11‚ No.1‚ pp. 27 – 38 Overcoming Ethnocentrism through Developing Intercultural Communication Sensitivity and Multiculturalism Qingwen Dong University of the Pacific Kenneth D. Day University of the Pacific Christine M. Collaço University of the Pacific Qingwen Dong (Ph.D. Washington State University‚ 1995) is Associate Professor and Chair and Kenneth D. Day (Ph.D. Indiana University‚ 1980) is Professor
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Are we limited in knowledge‚ in imagination‚ and in understanding by the culture we grow up in? In other words‚ are we ethnocentric‚ and if so is it a bad thing? To answer that‚ one must understand what ethnocentrism is. According to Macionis (2004)‚ ethnocentrism is "the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture". We are not born with culture; culture is a socially learned behavior‚ or set of values that a given groups holds as a norm and are considered to be
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Ethnocentrism By Richanda L. Brown SSCI210-1204A-06 AIU 8-30-2012 Abstract This paper will evaluate the movie The Stoning of Soraya M. and discuss the effect of ethnocentrism on individuals‚ societies‚ and multinational corporations. This paper will provide a comprehensive overview of ethnocentrism and focus on the cultural observations made based on cultural experience. Ethnocentrism Introduction Our text defines ethnocentrism as the practice of judging another culture by the standards
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Any action on the part of individuals‚ a group of people or institutions that promote the believed superiority of one group‚ profession‚ or set of ideas over another can be considered ethnocentric. Ethnocentrism is defined as one’s own race or ethnic group as of supreme importance than the order race or group. It is apparent that a broader use of the term has entered common usage. It has been demonstrated that ethnic and cultural values and beliefs influence the way individuals and groups view health
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Ethnocentrism in Anthropological perspective - Avatar Using highly advanced technology to replicate and to creating false bodies which humans use to walk amongst the natives known as the Na’vi living in the planet Pandora hence the name ‘Avatar’. The story focuses on an ex U.S. soldier name Jake Sully who is wheel-chair bound‚ was called upon as a last resort to replace his late brother whom had trained for 3 years in a project which was invested with so much money that the researchers could not
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Allen Mr.Savastano Pre-IB English III 29 April 2010 During the Common Era the eastern world managed to portray huge amounts of Ethnocentrism which operated internally on the minds of conquered societies as well as cultures. The eastern perception on the way of life degraded other traditions in order to uplift the status of their own beliefs. The correlation of Ethnocentrism led to the encouragement of Nationalism demonstrating the characterization of hubris. In the text Things Fall Apart‚ Chinua Achebe
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Ethnocentrism is an important topic for modern anthropology for many reasons. Firstly‚ we must understand that ethnocentrism is the incorrect belief that ones own group is in some way superior to others‚ and the standard by which others are judged. This belief has unfortunately been an important factor in the history of the human race. It has been in existence forever‚ and therefore is very pertinent to the field of cultural anthropology. Secondly‚ ethnocentrism has been the cause of many wars
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