Wednesday, June 26, 2013
COM 325 / Week One Discussion: Ethnocentrism: Pros and Cons
Let's admit it, we all have our fair share of ethnocentrism. For example, as a parent, I don't like to listen to my daughter praising her friends' families as cooler than mine after each visit. It is understandable to defend your home turfs. The problem is that sometimes our ethnocentrism goes to extremes. We refuse to admit our own mistakes and think ourselves exceptionally good. Please make a measured argument in regard to the pros and cons of ethnocentrism.
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First thing that comes to my mind is the U.S competing in Olympics. We, Americans, believe we are the best at everything we do. I truly think that stems from our earlier morals and values growing up from an early age. Sports in schools, competing to be the best and/or No. 1. That has been the motto of our society; always striving to be first. Taking great pride in what we fosters that belief that we will never fail and brings us closer into groups that succeed. As a society, sharing common beliefs reinforces the expectations of family, relationships, colleagues, etc. A con would be the misunderstanding by other groups own assumptions. For example, groups that can't or won't try to do something may cause issues because they know they will never belong and brew resentment.
ReplyDeleteOf course it is human nature to be protective of ones own heritage, traditions and culture. I come from a Norwegian heritage. My grandfather spoke only Norwegian on his first day of kindergarten in a one room school in Poulsbo Washington in the year 1914. My great grandparents came to the US from Norway and settled in Minnesota amongst a large group of immigrants. One pro of ethnocentrism is when my relatives came to the US they had a group from the “Old Country” who shared the same culture and traditions that they were accustom to. Another pro I can think of is with coming to a new country and living in a familiar way to how they were living when they left Norway likely would have given the arriving family a feeling of familiarity.
ReplyDeleteSome of the cons would have been that they spoke Norwegian not English when they went out into the workforce or had to communicate for food and sundries this could have made life difficult. If the earliest settlers were like my grandparents in the sense that their Lutheran religious beliefs and strong familial ties would have made it difficult for them to integrate into a dominant culture rather try convert others to their ways.
Chris, good post. Reminds me when I was living in Sweden. I was watching the Olympics in the dorm on campus with a bunch of other international students and someone remarked how the Americans are so ethnocentric about the Olympics. It was interesting to see how another nation handles this ceremony, as we in the USA focus primarily on ourselves, in Sweden, they ran biography segments on many different nationalities, showing us a little glimpse of that culture, that person, their struggles and accomplishments. I really appreciated that and realized how our culture (at least when it comes to the Olympics) is self absorbed.
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