Define: A. Ethnocentrism B. Cultural relativity (relativism). Discuss how these might affect racism, prejudice, and discrimination. Use specific examples.
The Answer
A. Ethnocentrism often entails the belief that one’s own race or ethnic group is the most important or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups. Within this ideology, individuals will judge other groups in relation to their own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion.
B. Cultural relativism is the belief that the concepts and values of a culture cannot be fully translated into, or understood in, other languages and that a specific cultural artifact (e.g., a ritual) has to be understood in terms of the larger symbolic system of which it is a part. Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual’s own culture.
Ethnocentrism and cultural relativity (relativism) lead to racism, prejudice, and discrimination among the people practicing the different cultures. A high level of appreciation for one’s own culture can be healthy; a shared sense of community pride, for example, connects people in a society. But ethnocentrism can lead to disdain for other cultures and could cause misunderstanding and conflict. People with the best intentions sometimes travel to a society to “help” its people because they see them as uneducated or backward—essentially inferior. In reality, these travelers are guilty of cultural imperialism, the deliberate imposition of one’s own ostensibly advanced cultural values on another culture. Europe’s colonial expansion, begun in the sixteenth century, was often accompanied by severe cultural imperialism. European colonizers often viewed the people in the lands they colonized as uncultured savages who were in need of European governance, dress, religion, and other cultural practices. A more modern example of cultural imperialism may include the work of international aid agencies that introduce agricultural methods and plant species from developed countries while overlooking indigenous varieties and agricultural approaches that are better suited to a particular region.