Ethnocentrism consists of the interpretation of reality based on one's own cultural parameters.
Ethnocentrism is a concept developed by anthropology to mention the tendency that leads a person or social group to interpret reality based on their own cultural parameters . This practice is linked to the belief that one's own ethnicity and its cultural practices are superior to the behaviors of other groups.
An ethnocentric vision judges and qualifies the customs, beliefs and language of other cultures according to a worldview considered desirable (which is always its own). The differences between one group and another constitute cultural identity .
A frequent trend
Ethnocentrism is a tendency common to any human group. It is common for elements of one's own culture to be described or commented on in positive terms , describing the beliefs and customs of others in a negative way. One's own practices are considered normal and even logical, unlike the exotic and poorly understood behaviors of the other.
Anthropologists and other social scientists must strive not to fall into ethnocentrism when analyzing cultures that are foreign to them . The researcher must constantly fight against the temptation to consider his own cultural structure as normal or superior to carry out objective work. Ethnocentrism also prevents learning (I cannot learn from something that I consider inferior or less valuable than what I already have).
Respect for one's own identity does not imply having an ethnocentric vision of the world: on the contrary, valuing cultural differences is a way of enhancing our own history.
The opposite of ethnocentrism is cultural relativism.
Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism
Since its origins, anthropology has fought to combat ethnocentrism that weights some cultures over others and generates great discrimination and disparity regarding the needs of people; where those who achieve the greatest benefits are the hegemonic groups.
Ethnocentrism is a cultural universal; Everywhere there are people who believe that their way of understanding life and customs is correct, to the detriment of those groups that do not share them. In fact, they consider those different behaviors to be strange or wild .
There is also another concept known as cultural relativism , which is located at the opposite end of ethnocentrism. This school of thought states that no culture should be judged by the standards of another.
Like all extreme reasoning, cultural relativism can also be negative because it can be tolerant of those behaviors that threaten the life or freedom of individuals who are part of a people. That is to say, from this point of view, we should accept the predominant ideas of Nazi Germany, just as we accept those that come from classical Greece.
The study of cultures
It is important that anthropologists, from an objective, sensitive and above all, transcultural point of view, study a culture, but without ignoring those values that have to do with justice and ethics , which must aim at the defense of individuality. of all people in any cultural field.
It could be said that within an ethnocentric position, the way to approach another culture would be from an authoritarian position that considers that everything that distances itself from one's own society is primitive, immature and even despicable. It is worth mentioning that these thoughts deny the process of hominization and the history of human diversity .
For its part, cultural relativism affirms that the characteristic features of a place should be analyzed only within the system to which they belong and that they are as worthy of respect as those of any other.