{"id":7051,"date":"2020-03-11T16:46:46","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T11:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=7051"},"modified":"2025-07-31T10:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T05:06:07","slug":"making-connections-ethnocentrism-and-cultural-relativism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/making-connections-ethnocentrism-and-cultural-relativism\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Connections: Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_68 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-light-blue ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >What's Inside this Blog!<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/making-connections-ethnocentrism-and-cultural-relativism\/#Making_Connections_Ethnocentrism_and_Cultural_Relativism\" title=\"Making Connections: Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism\">Making Connections: Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/making-connections-ethnocentrism-and-cultural-relativism\/#Relevance_Sociology_Ethnocentrism\" title=\"Relevance: Sociology: Ethnocentrism\">Relevance: Sociology: Ethnocentrism<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Making_Connections_Ethnocentrism_and_Cultural_Relativism\"><\/span>Making Connections: Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Relevance_Sociology_Ethnocentrism\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Relevance: Sociology: Ethnocentrism<\/strong><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cultural-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7052\" src=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cultural-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cultural-1.jpg 960w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cultural-1-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cultural-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cultural-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cultural-1-880x660.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Despite how much humans have in common, cultural differences are far more prevalent than cultural universals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For example,<\/strong> while all cultures have language, analysis of particular language structures and conversational etiquette reveal tremendous differences. In some Middle Eastern cultures, it is common to stand close to others in conversation. North Americans keep more distance, maintaining a large \u201cpersonal space.\u201d Even something as simple as eating and drinking varies greatly from culture to culture.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;\"><em><strong>If your professor comes into an early morning class holding a mug of liquid, what do you assume she is drinking? <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In the United States, it\u2019s most likely filled with coffee, not Earl Grey tea, a favorite in England, or Yak Butter tea, a staple in Tibet.<\/p>\n<p>The way cuisines vary across cultures fascinates many people. Some travelers pride themselves on their willingness to try unfamiliar foods, like celebrated food writer Anthony Bourdain, while others return home expressing gratitude for their native culture\u2019s fare. Often, Americans express disgust at other cultures\u2019 cuisine, thinking it\u2019s gross to eat meat from a dog or guinea pig, for example, while they don\u2019t question their own habit of eating cows or pigs. Such attitudes are an example of <strong>ethnocentrism<\/strong>, or evaluating and judging another culture based on how it compares to one\u2019s own cultural norms.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ethnocentrism<\/strong>, as sociologist William Graham Sumner (1906) described the term, involves a belief or attitude that one\u2019s own culture is better than all others. <strong>Almost everyone is a little bit ethnocentric.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>For example,<\/strong> Americans tend to say that people from England drive on the \u201cwrong\u201d side of the road, rather than the \u201cother\u201d side. Someone from a country where dog meat is standard fare might find it off-putting to see a dog in a French restaurant\u2014not on the menu, but as a pet and patron\u2019s companion.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Pros &amp; Cons<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>A high level of appreciation for one\u2019s own culture can be healthy; a shared sense of community pride, for example, connects people in a society. But ethnocentrism can lead to disdain or dislike for other cultures, causing misunderstanding and conflict. People with the best intentions sometimes travel to a society to \u201chelp\u201d its people, seeing them as uneducated or backward; essentially inferior. In reality, these travellers are guilty of <strong>cultural imperialism<\/strong>, the deliberate imposition of one\u2019s own cultural values on another culture.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>For more such notes, Articles, News &amp; Views Join our Telegram Channel.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Telegram Link\" href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/triumphias\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>https:\/\/t.me\/triumphias<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Click the link below to see the details about the UPSC \u2013Civils courses offered by Triumph IAS.<\/strong> <\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/pages-all-courses.php\">https:\/\/triumphias.com\/pages-all-courses.php<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making Connections: Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism Relevance: Sociology: Ethnocentrism Despite how much humans have in common, cultural differences are far<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114,115,116],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-7051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sociology-optional","category-sociology-optional-paper-i","category-sociology-optional-paper-ii","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7051"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31998,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7051\/revisions\/31998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}