Attitudes of Cultures (SumBlog 2)

This week in class we discussed ethnocentrism along with cultural relativism. Both of these concepts explain very different points of view. Ethnocentrism is when someone holds his or her own culture above everyone else’s. If you are ethnocentric you most likely hold your own values, beliefs, religion, language and customs higher than others around you. A person will use their culture to judge another’s, usually in a negative aspect. A lot of times this can lead us to make incorrect judgments about other people’s culture. Ethnocentrism can cause discrimination, biasness and hatred towards another culture. On the other hand some people can make an argument that in a way ethnocentrism can be seen in a positive light. A functional example of this would be having a great deal of solidarity in your culture. This would be a feeling of togetherness. I think about solidarity is when people come together to stand up for something they care about and believe in. Overall, ethnocentrism is seen in a very negative light but in certain situations there can be positive aspects.

This video shows an explanation of ethnocentrism and why it is important

 not live your life in this mindset. It can greatly affect the people around you in a negative way.I really think that living with an open mind will impove many aeas of your life.

Cultural relativism is when a person tries to understand cultures that are different then his or her own. These people see other people’s values, beliefs, religion language and customs too be comparative to their culture. These people do not judge other cultures, they understand “right” and “wrong” are different in other cultures and societies and people hold different morals. Cultural relativism is non-judgmental and sees nothing characteristically immoral about different cultural expressions. People with this view, respect others beliefs and are very open-minded.

This is also a helpful video; this one compares ethnocentrism and cultural relativism a little more in depth. I think both of these terms are important for people to understand and get an idea of their own perspective on their culture as well as others.