Ethnocentrism And Cultural Relativity Essay example -- essays research

It is always troublesome not to transform another culture, especially, in New York City where we live in a society that is rapidly changing. The City has increasingly brought bulk of various cultures, to act closer with each other. This interaction can be either verificatory or negative depending on the level of sensitivity and respect people have for other culture aggroups. These dickens types of behaviors are related to two important concepts kn make as ethnocentrism and cultural relativity.Ethnocentrism is the attitude of prejudice or mistrust towards outsiders that may exist within a group (in-group) in relation to other (out-group). (Harper-Collin Dictionary of Sociology). Importantly, there are also triple levels of ethnocentrism a despotic one, a negative one, and an extreme negative one. The positive definition defines ethnocentrism as the point of view that ones profess way of life is to be preferred to all others (Herskovits 1973 21). There is zero point wrong wi th such feelings, because it characterizes the way most individuals feel about their give birth cultures, whether or not they verbalize their feelings (Herskovits 197321). It is this point of view that gives people their superstar of people-hood, group identity, and place in history. Ethnocentrism becomes negative when ones own group becomes the center of everything, and all other are scaled and rated with annex to it(Herskovits 197321). It reaches extreme negative form when a more powerful group not only i...