Ethnocentrism In The United States
Ethnocentric
In this writing assignment I will present ethnocentrism as well as my experiences. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to use one’s own culture as a yardstick for judging ways of the other societies; assumption that one’s own culture is superior to others. You can find ethnocentrism just about anywhere you find people, though it is true that it will affect some areas, and subsequently, the people in those areas, more strongly. This is the most terrible way of thinking, and many people are affected by it.
Ethnocentrism is prevalent in today's world, even in the diverse environment of the United States. However, this diversity may actually cause ethnocentrism as new immigrants enter the country while still holding on to the nationalism …show more content…
In one incident, I was on my way to work, walking past the parking lot of Glendale Marketplace, and saw two women gossiping about a homeless man. The women assumed that this man was homeless because of his own carelessness. Passing by, I gave the man a few dollars, and the two women began to whisper. Apparently, they thought the offering unworthy, believing the man was homeless because of his own poor choices. These women looked like middle class women. I can conjecture that, in a leisure-class society, few people are ever forced to wander outside of their social class, and consequently may not develop empathy for others with problems of an unfamiliar nature. The two middle class clearly did not know what it is like to be homeless. The result was their judging others based on only their own limited …show more content…
The audacity of these women to judge a homeless man, especially after ignoring his plea for help, was appalling. They chose his values for him and decided to create restrictions for him in their own heads. In turn this allowed me to feel pity for homeless people in general knowing that others have such a bad image of them without even knowing their stories. They are looked down upon and ignored in most cases. What I felt even more greatly was the need to educate these women -- along with many other people -- about the hardships others go through, and also to teach them that they should not judge someone else before they understand their particular situation, let alone judge a whole group based on one. Thinking they are superior to everyone else was condescending, but sometimes people do not do it
In this writing assignment I will present ethnocentrism as well as my experiences. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to use one’s own culture as a yardstick for judging ways of the other societies; assumption that one’s own culture is superior to others. You can find ethnocentrism just about anywhere you find people, though it is true that it will affect some areas, and subsequently, the people in those areas, more strongly. This is the most terrible way of thinking, and many people are affected by it.
Ethnocentrism is prevalent in today's world, even in the diverse environment of the United States. However, this diversity may actually cause ethnocentrism as new immigrants enter the country while still holding on to the nationalism …show more content…
In one incident, I was on my way to work, walking past the parking lot of Glendale Marketplace, and saw two women gossiping about a homeless man. The women assumed that this man was homeless because of his own carelessness. Passing by, I gave the man a few dollars, and the two women began to whisper. Apparently, they thought the offering unworthy, believing the man was homeless because of his own poor choices. These women looked like middle class women. I can conjecture that, in a leisure-class society, few people are ever forced to wander outside of their social class, and consequently may not develop empathy for others with problems of an unfamiliar nature. The two middle class clearly did not know what it is like to be homeless. The result was their judging others based on only their own limited …show more content…
The audacity of these women to judge a homeless man, especially after ignoring his plea for help, was appalling. They chose his values for him and decided to create restrictions for him in their own heads. In turn this allowed me to feel pity for homeless people in general knowing that others have such a bad image of them without even knowing their stories. They are looked down upon and ignored in most cases. What I felt even more greatly was the need to educate these women -- along with many other people -- about the hardships others go through, and also to teach them that they should not judge someone else before they understand their particular situation, let alone judge a whole group based on one. Thinking they are superior to everyone else was condescending, but sometimes people do not do it