Why ethnocentrism is important

Third, ethnocentrism affect inter-cultural communication in negative way. These three negative effects happen because ethnocentric people tend to focus only in group and evaluate other cultures based on their standards. Ethnocentrism is a major factor in the divisions among members of different ethnicities, races, and religious groups.

So it affects our view as we believe our way is the best and only way. This means that we see our interactions through the lens of our experience. Demanding others behave in the manner you prefer is ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism Synonyms — WordHippo Thesaurus…. What is another word for ethnocentrism? Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search.

The opposite of ethnocentrism is xenocentrism. Xenocentrism means preferring ideas and things from other cultures over ideas and things from your own culture. At the heart of xenocentrism is an assumption conscious or unconscious that other cultures are superior to your own. One must be careful, of course, not to throw around charges of "ethnocentrism" to try to discredit people with whose views we disagree.

The best use of an understanding of ethnocentrism is to use it to correct our own ethnocentric attitudes and behavior rather than that of others. We need to keep in mind the 2,year-old admonition of Jesus of Nazareth: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? For further understanding on recognizing and dealing with ethnocentrism and ethnocentric attitudes and behavior: Dog sled race illustrating ethnocentrism.

Well, a provincialism growing out of a monoculturalist worldview can cause you to fall into these traps:. When you appreciate the value of someone else's culture, you set aside the presupposed superiority of your own culture. Image source. Seuss' Sneetches book is a delightful way of confronting prejudice based on in cultural and ethnic differences YouTube reading of "The Sneetches".

As globalization moves ahead, what can move us forward on the path toward cross-cultural awareness and understanding? To monitor their progress toward a destination, travelers in the U. For thousands of years, European travelers have depended on numbered "milestones" to mark progress toward their destination. Cultural awareness is more than just realizing that another culture is different from ours.

Another example of ethnocentrism is colonialism. Colonialism can be defined as cultural domination with enforced social change. A good example to look at when examining colonialism is the British overtake of India.

The British had little understanding of the culture in India which created a lot of problems an unrest during their rule. Ethnocentrism may not, in some circumstances, be avoidable. But these reactions do not have to result in horrible events such as genocide or war. In order to avoid such awful things like those we must all try to be more culturally relative.

Ethnocentrism is one solution to tension between one cultural self and another cultural self.