Ethnocentrism refers to the belief that a person’s culture is centrally superior and more important than other cultures and influences how people should communicate with those from different cultural backgrounds (Tagle, 2021). An example of ethnocentrism is when an individual from a particular culture considers their cultural practices superior and regards other people’s cultural practices as strange and inferior (Kaya et al., 2021). For instance, a person from the United States may think that the American culture is the best, thus viewing other customs and cultural practices as uncivilized. Ethnocentrism can result in negative attitudes, misunderstandings and stereotypes towards other cultures, resulting in a lack of collaboration and communication.
Negative Consequences of Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is a bad perception as judgments are always made, and the assumptions become false. The assumptions made are generalizations about the customs that are not true. This results in false prejudgment of others using their personal cultural belongings. At the close of it all, the person may make dangerous assumptions concerning other social communities. It also confines a person in various small social groups to which they belong and gets so rigid to transformation. An individual remains within the group’s parameters that are not subjected to the general social deviations that do happen in his society, making him preach against current and society modern changes. As a result, he remains backwards in adaptation and implements minimal changes.
Ethnocentrism prevents and seriously hinder individuals from having genuine communication with other people from different social culture. The main reason towards this hindrance is the view of other social cultures as lesser people or dangerous. (Černigoj, 2022). A person’s belief that a certain community’s witchcraft practice is dangerous results in individual communication.
Ethnocentrism can lead to serious and dangerous situations, like death and war, within individuals in a given community. When people judge and view one another negatively, this may lead to hatred that can result in ethnic community wrangling, leading to a war that causes injury and even death within the large society. (Baranauskas & Stowell, 2022). The history of a culture, when viewed in line with ethnocentrism, can be disrupted. Society may be prejudged that those who lived in the past generation were foolish.
How to become lessEthnocentric
One must engage in various learning and self-reflection processes to become less ethnocentric. The first step of being less ethnocentric involves acknowledging your own biases. This can be achieved by recognizing that everyone has biases and that you may hold specific attitudes and beliefs that reflect your upbringing and cultural background (Kaya et al., 2021). One should be open to the possibility that his or her perspectives may fail to be universal. Secondly, one can become less ethnocentric by seeking various perspectives. One should ensure that he or she learns about other people’s cultures and perspectives. This can be achieved through reading books and articles written by different people from different backgrounds and watching documentaries or films about cultures (Tagle, 2021). Besides, one can also acquire a diverse perspective by travelling to different countries and meeting people with diverse cultures.
To become less ethnocentric, one should also practice empathy by putting themselves in other people’s situations and viewing things from their perspectives. This can enable them to enhance their understanding of other people’s values and experiences, even if these values are different from their own. Becoming less ethnocentric could also require one to challenge his or her assumptions by being willing to question their own beliefs and assumptions (Tagle, 2021). One can achieve this by exploring any perspective that challenges their points of view and considering alternative perspectives. Lastly, a person can also become less ethnocentric by engaging in respectful dialogues and being open-minded, particularly when discussing cultural differences with other people (Tagle, 2021). This can be achieved by listening actively to other people and seeking to understand their perspectives, even if they have different points of view. Notably, becoming less egocentric is an ongoing process that takes effort and time and thus cannot be achieved immediately.
References
Baranauskas, A. J., & Stowell, J. I. (2022). Perceptions of Immigrants as a Criminal Threat: The Role of Negative Effect and Ethnocentrism. Race and Justice.
Černigoj, A. (2022). The Influence of Culture and Intercultural Contact on Neo-Racism and Ethnocentrism. Psychological Studies.
Kaya, Y., Arslan, S., Erbaş, A., Yaşar, B. N., & Küçükkelepçe, G. E. (2021). The effect of ethnocentrism and moral sensitivity on intercultural sensitivity in nursing students, descriptive cross-sectional research study. Nurse education today, 100, 104867. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260691721001246
Tagle, A. (2021). Reducing Ethnocentrism through Multiculturalism and Social Learning in Multicultural Societies. International Journal of Multidisciplinary: Applied Business and Education Research, 2(11), 1235–1242. Available at: https://ijmaberjournal.org/index.php/ijmaber/article/view/226
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