Political or social issues Essay

Ethnocentrism refers to people’s habit of applying selfness in daily life activities by considering themselves just than others, pulling towards themselves and therefore make all judgments based on their own values, feelings, ideas, ideals, traditions and cultural practices. It is an aspect that brings issues of prejudices, hatred, ethnicity and stereotypic practices. On the other side, it strengthens and maintains belief structures and behaviors as well as creating rationale pride. It also creates personal volunteering spirit for one’s group or society aimed at collective benefits. The mostly realized effect of ethnocentrism is that it creates negative effects especially when it comes to communication and understanding one another. This is because people from different cultures have different opinions and perceptions when it comes to different issues in life such as cultural, political or social issues. It is therefore difficult for people to reach a consensus as everyone considers him/her right, thus misperceptions and misunderstandings (Felix, 2004). b. Explain the difference between individualistic cultures and collectivist cultures and your personal experiences with culture shock. Hofstede compared ethnocentrism American and Indian college students and came up with two major aspects which mostly deepened American’s student’s socio-cultural conformity. One of the aspects was individualistic culture, where a culture is developed to value oneself more than others and when it comes to a group; its members are considered more than non members. The other aspect was power distance dimension which mainly focused on societal equality and inequality. This is the view that high powered people are entitled to more privileges than the low powered. According to his research the above two aspects made America score 91% and India 48% of ethnocentrism in students. Collectivist culture is the culture in which benefit to all is the principle. It applies in countries or society where people value mutualism by caring for one another (Violet, 2001). Reference Felix, G. , (2004) Social Psychology. London, Blackwell Publishers Violet, T. , (2001) Sociological Theories and Approaches. West, CT, Praeger