We have to write a two-page paper about our experience with ethnocentrism. I honestly don't know what to write about! I haven't really had any experience with that, other than people acting weird around me because I'm a male that's attracted to males, but I don't think that'll do.
Any suggestions? This is the assignment:
Describe a personal example of ethnocentrism that you have witnessed or learned about.
How did this situation make you feel?
In thinking back upon the situation, what could you have done to change the final outcome?
Hm...
did u try looking it up on google, that should u give u some sort of idea of what its about, and what u should talk about. Or ask other ppl about their experiences
Okay, I can not think of ANYTHING. I'm thinking of just making something up.
If you have a good grasp of what ethnocentrism is, I'm sure you can just invent a story in which someone makes cultural assumptions about you that are wrong, or in which you make cultural assumptions about somebody else that are wrong. Then write up your story and post the draft here for proofreading and editing.
If you consider yourself to be a part of a culture within a culture (which I assume you are), you can base your essay off of your own personal experience. I think it would be very interesting and your paper will stand out because I have a feeling that most of the other papers your professor will be reading will be based on a different sort of culture...
I'm writing the paper about an incident where two women were trash talking about a homeless man. I made this up, and I think this essay is horrible because I couldn't focus and lost motivation shortly after I begun writing. I haven't proofread or revised this so please help me do so.
Hey, now, let's not be all, like, Negative Nancy or something. It's not so bad! And let's try to stay a little formal in our discourse, too, not so much swearing and sulking! :) Avoid profanity, just in case it causes some sensitive people to be offended or whatever.
When you can't get inspired, there is no way you'll like what you write. But if you wrote something uninspired, there is still good stuff in there. Like with this one, shave off that weak first sentence and let the essay begin with that very interesting sentence about how one would think that America would not have ethnocentricity. Cool idea!
This essay is actually a great topic, a really cool topic. Ethnocentricity is subtle. Think about this:
When big companies outsource work to India and China, those people in those developing countries are glad to be earning a higher wage than they would otherwise be earning (even though they are often exploited). However, Americans say, Hey! Why are you giving OUR jobs to those foreigners?!" Same thing with immigration. Now, I'll put this in bold to make people notice it, and see if anyone argues with me: In order to cut labor costs, it is great for American companies to employ people overseas, who live in developing nations, instead of employing Americans.
Now, let's see how many Americans take offense to that. People are unaware of their ethnocentrism. The truth is, people in India and China need jobs, too!
Unfortunately... I think the example you wrote about is not good. I think you should write about ethnicity even though homeless people perhaps represent an ethnographic, like, subculture or something. Try again! Sorry you are having a hard time!
It's fine, thanks a lot. Someone revised my essay and actually made it a lot better. My professor isn't going to grade it very harshly, so it's fine.
Thank you!
Unfortunately... I think the example you wrote about is not good. I think you should write about ethnicity
Kevin is absolutely right. If you haven't already handed in the essay, you might want to post the revised version here, just for some extra feedback.
Here is the revised version:
The Evil Among Us
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 of their homelands. Later generations -- the children of these immigrants -- who are born into the blended culture are able to have an identity in common.
Despite a nearly-universal agreement that people would like to learn to accept one another and live happily among each other, in reality many people remain prejudiced and jingoistic. My experience with ethnocentrism involved two adult women and one homeless man. This experience made it apparent that people judge others even though they may not understand them.
Although I have always lived in a liberal area of the United States, I have certainly witnessed ethnocentric discrimination. 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 experiences.
The two women I encountered at this scene came off as very ignorant. They compared the homeless man against on their own values and the standards of their culture and class, not taking into consideration the man's history, life, and the way that he thinks. They mentioned that he was in such a position because of his own poor choices. This is not fact, and there is no way in which they could have known this, but they persisted in their ethnocentrism regardless.
This incident made me feel awkward and even mad. 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 consciously.
This ordeal taught me that ethnocentrism occurs all the time, everywhere, and sometimes without us even noticing it. In this specific situation, I could have changed the outcome of the event by talking to the women about what they had just said. I did not have enough courage to do this, so I kept on walking. In future encounters with ethnocentrism, I will do my best to inform people about this and to reduce ignorance. I think this experience has helped me see ethnocentrism in our society and the unwanted effects it has on people.
This still suffers from the fact that the homeless guy shared the same ethnicity as the two women. Also, the example is weak because they could well have been right. For all you know, the man was homeless due to his own laziness. He might not have been; you seem to have ascribed more charitable reasons for his situation, but really, you have no way of knowing for certain. So, at worst, the two women are being uncharitable, not ethnocentric. If the women lived in the area, and knew something of the man, they might not even have been that. I'd pick a different example, or alter the details of the anecdote. Maybe the women were white and the man was black. And maybe he wasn't homeless, maybe he was just an ordinary guy, but the women crossed the street to avoid him out of fear. Or something along those lines.
Ethnocentrism doesn't only refer to ethnicity. It's about culture, and your social class is in itself a culture. Also, I was mainly referring to the fact that they assumed that just because he was homeless, he was lazy, and they could have never known that.
There are people who love freedom so much that they live outdoors and collect change from people who will give it... and they innovate ways to survive without having to conform to societal norms. I think that is brilliant, but someone who succumbs to ethnocentrism might disagree with me.
So, as you point out, ethnocentricity can apply even when "ethnicity" is the same and the differences are matters of subculture. I jut think you didn't do enough to make sure you show that you know what ethnocentrism is -- but I think the essay really is quite alright this way. Even though you made assumptions about the ladies and their motives (just like they perhaps made assumptions about that guy), the essay still conveys your point very well.
And on second thought, I guess I take back what I said above. I think you DO show that you understand what ethnocentricity is... in your reflection on what those ladies may have thought. Nevertheless, it may not have been ethnocentrism that was motivating them, like Sean said.
Anyway, I think this essay is great, and I'm glad you gave the guy few dollars!
:)
Thank you!
I actually didn't donate anything. I stated earlier that this situation never really happened, lol. I only wrote about it because I couldn't come up with anything in my life that would reflect ethnocentrism very well. Anyway, thank you all for helping me out.
ive seen your previous posts, have you taken the course challenges and change? (sarahmk)
Well, it's the thought that counts.
have you taken HSB?
Hi sarahmk & Jackson1, have you both completed HSB4M-A?
Im in need of a little bit of help for the final unit, and would like to know what to expect for the final 30% exam
If you could reply it would be much appreciated
Ethnocentrism topic to write a paper?
i have to come up with a topic to write a paper on ethnocentrism and im stumped, can anyone help me come up with a topic?
Hi, I really glad that I saw your post, because your post made me to search about this interesting social subject.The definition, difficulties and the solutions for this social problem may be helpful for writing a paper:
Definition:
You can start with a definition about this topic. You can find an appropriate definition in wikipedia. Here is a definition:"Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture"
Problems:
Then talk about its negative effects: For example its influences on communication and interaction of people from various countries and different cultures. This phenomenon may ruin the relationship between countries. Therefore, the economical, political, and social relationships among these countries will be jeopardized.
Solutions:
The main way for eradication of this problem is that people increase their awareness about other countries and cultures. There are some ways to reach this goal that I have listed them as follow:
1) There is paper entitled " Reducing Education Students' Ethnocentrism: Difficulties and Possible Solutions" that show multicultural education can help student to control their ethnocentric attitudes.
2) The main root of this problem stems from lake of awareness of one about other cultures. Therefore, media can play a vital role for improve the level of people's consciousness about other cultures, and religions.
3) For recognizing other cultures reading foreign books and newspapers may also be helpful and can be a way for overcoming ethnocentrism
4) Make friends. Friendship cuts through a lot of misconceptions simply because we see them as individuals rather than as collections of traits. An easy way to cultivate friends of different viewpoints is to volunteer for or join cultural clubs. For example, a Persian Club at a local university will have Iranian members while a Latino Business Association can consist of Mexicans.
5) Traveling to other countries
6) the use of Internet for learning more about other societies and their traditions
Regards
A. Zafari
