Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism: Meaning

Ethnocentrism is a type of bias that involves observing and judging other cultures or the world through the lens of your own culture. Ethnocentrism assumes that the in-group (i.e., the group to which you identify most) is the norm. Out-groups should be judged based on behaviours seen as acceptable in the in-group, assuming it is the ideal.

It, therefore, has a two fold meaning. First, it refers to the natural tendency to see the world through the lens of your own culture. This involves accepting our cultural perspective as the way reality is and applying this assumption to our interactions with the world and other cultures.

Another way ethnocentrism manifests is through the belief that the way things are in our culture is somehow superior to others or that it's the right way. This stance also implies that other cultures are inferior and that their operations are incorrect.

Ethnocentrism Examples

Examples of ethnocentrism include how we:

• Judge others based on their food preferences.
• Judge others based on their clothing styles.
• Judging others based on their language (often assuming English is, or should be, the default).

To name a few. Consider the following real lie examples that illustrate how ethnocentrism affects our perception, behaviour, and judgements in everyday life.

Other examples can be seen in various human behaviours.

In this interaction, Rebecca assumes that Jess is heterosexual, even though she doesn't know it, and is an example of how a heteronormative culture affects our perception of others.

Molly's ethnocentrism influenced her perception and led her to judge another cultural practice as inferior or wrong.

Cultural Bias, Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism Psychology

Often, psychologists rely on studies conducted in Western cultures to inform psychological theories. When findings from studies conducted in the Western context are generalised to other cultures, it can introduce cultural bias.

To avoid cultural bias in research, caution needs to be applied when we generalise research findings beyond the culture where the research was conducted.

Ethnocentrism Psychology

Many Western psychological theories can't be generalised to other cultures. Let's look at Erikson's stages of development, which according to Erikson represent a universal trajectory of human development.

This shows how the individualism-collectivism orientation can affect how we understand the formation of identity. It also demonstrates that Western research does not always represent universal values.

Another example of ethnocentrism in psychology is Ainsworth's types of attachment, which have been identified through research conducted using a sample of white, middle-class American mothers and infants.

Ainsworth's study showed that the most common attachment style for American infants was the secure attachment style. This was considered the 'healthiest' attachment style. However, research in the 1990s showed that this varied greatly across cultures.

From an American perspective, this suggests that Japanese infants are less 'healthy' and the way Japanese people parent their children is 'wrong'. This is an example of how assumptions about the 'correctness' of one culture's practices may portray another culture's practices in a negative light.

Fig. 2: The way caregivers raise children differs between cultures. By applying Western classifications to asses children from different cultures we might miss the impact of their unique cultural context.

Cultural Relativism: Beyond the Ethnocentric Approach

Cultural relativism promotes understanding of cultural differences rather than judging them. The cultural relativism perspective involves a consideration of the values, practices, or norms of people in their cultural context.

Cultural relativism recognises that we can't assume that our cultural understanding of morality, or what is healthy and normal, is the right one, and so we shouldn't apply them to judge other cultures. This aims to eliminate the belief that one's culture is better than others.

When we look closer at the Japanese cultural context, we can interpret the results without ethnocentric judgements, a key aim of cultural relativism.

Cross-cultural Research

Cross-cultural psychology acknowledges that many psychological phenomena are not universal and that cultural learning affects behaviour. Researchers can also use cross-cultural studies to differentiate between learnt or innate tendencies. There are two approaches to studying other cultures; the etic and the emic approach.

The Etic Approach

The etic approach in research involves observing culture from the perspective of an 'outsider' to identify phenomena that are universally shared across cultures. As part of this approach, the outsider's understanding of concepts and measurements is applied to the study of other cultures.

When the researcher studies a culture from the etic perspective they are likely to apply concepts from their culture and generalise them to what they observe; an imposed etic.

The Emic Approach

The emic approach in cross-cultural research involves studying cultures from the perspective of an 'insider'. The research is supposed to reflect norms, values, and concepts which are native to the culture and meaningful to the members, and focus is solely on one culture.

Emic research focuses on the perspective of the members of the culture and how they understand, interpret and explain certain phenomena.

Is Ethnocentrism All Wrong?

It's probably impossible to get rid of all our cultural biases, and it's rare for people to expect this. It's not wrong to value your own culture and traditions.

Nurturing the connection to one’s culture can be incredibly meaningful and improve our self-esteem, especially since our culture is part of our identity. Moreover, shared practices and world views can bring communities together.

Fig. 3: Participating in cultural traditions can be a meaningful and fulfiling experience.

However, we need to be careful in how we approach, judge and interpret other cultures. Generalising our cultural assumptions to the practices of others can be offensive or even hostile. Ethnocentrism can also uphold racist or discriminatory notions and practices. It can lead to further division in multicultural societies and hinder cooperation or a shared understanding and appreciation of our cultural differences.