xenocentrism vs ethnocentrism
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Some Examples of Xenocentrism
- Americans’ belief that European’s produce superior automotive vehicles
- European Renaissance artists desire to emulate ancient Greek artwork
- Americans belief that French or Spanish wine is superior to what is produced by American vineyards
- The belief that cheeses in France are far superior to those in the United States
- The concept that the quality of Ireland’s beer is far superior to that produced domestically
- Coveting the culture of another country such as in Central America where the work day is set up far differently than in the United States
- The belief that the way of dress by another culture is significantly superior and that those within one’s native country should adopt that same dress
- The belief that other countries produce better children’s toys
- The concept that a quality product can’t be purchased in one’s native country
- The idea that cloth to make clothes is better produced by other nations
Each of these different examples are situations where there is a preference for another culture outside of the culture in the home country.
Understanding Xenocentrism
In psychological terms, xenocentrism is considered a type of deviant behavior because it sways from the norms of society.
It is unexpected that an individual would value the goods, services, styles, ideas and other cultural elements of another nation. However, in some limited circumstances, it has been noted that xenocentrism can help to shed light on cultural deficiencies, whether it be ideas or products, and offers the opportunity to fix that which may legitimately inferior to another country or culture.
It is also noted that self-perception and self esteem can contribute to xenocentrism. In certain circumstances, some individuals may attempt to elevate their perception among others by eschewing domestic products for foreign ones. By doing so, the individual believes she is painting herself in a better light as a more educated, worldly and savvy consumer.
The opposite of xenocentrism is ethnocentrism which is the tendency to overvalue one’s own native cultural beliefs and values and therefore devalues the worth of the elements of other cultures.
Consequences of Xenocentrism
Some examples of the consequences of Xenocentrism include:
- Loss of businesses in the home country
- Loss of jobs in the home country
- Degraded economical situation
- Overall reduction of morale within the nation
- A loss of population to emigration
- Negative impact on the identity of others in relation to culture
- If adopted by large like-minded groups, xenocentrism could cause political polarization
As you can see, xenocentrism can be a major problem when it occurs in a society, especially if it occurs on a widespread scale.
Here are the topics:
Xenocentrism
Say you’re in your local supermarket and you’re shopping for items to cook tomorrow night. You’ve got a second date with someone you really like, and you want to impress them. You stroll down the aisles and head straight for the imported wines. Why did you do that? Because you thought the imported wines would be better and thus more impressive. Right? So, you grab your bottle of Bordeaux with the label that you can’t quite read and head to the checkout. You know that you don’t know a lot about wine, but the imported stuff sounds like it’s better, so you bought it.
Examples of xenocentrism
This is an example of xenocentrism: You perceived that another culture was in some way better than your own. In this case, you thought that the wine, because it was from the Bordeaux region of France, must be better than a red wine made in your current country of the United States. This is a commonplace practice – particularly in terms of the quality of wine, beer, and cheese – that items are perceived as superior when they are imported from other European countries.
Another definition
Xenocentrism is a culturally-based tendency to value other cultures more highly than one’s own, which can materialize in a variety of different ways. In the United States, for instance, it is often assumed that European products such as wine and cheese are superior to those produced locally.
In a more extreme sense, some cultures may idolize other cultures, such as the Japanese anime genre idolizing American beauty in its art, wherein it emphasizes such features as large eyes, angular jaws, and light skin.
Xenocentrism serves as an antithesis to ethnocentrism, wherein a person believes his or her culture and its goods and services are superior to that of all other cultures and people. Xenocentrism relies instead on a fascination with others’ culture and a contempt for one’s own, often spurred by gross injustice of government, antiquated ideologies, or oppressive religious majorities.
ethnocentrism
Recognition and control of Ethnocentrism
is the basic methodology for understanding ethnic behavior…
both our own and others.
“Ethnocentrism” is a commonly used word in circles where ethnicity, inter-ethnic relations, and similar inter-group issues are of concern. The usual definition of the term is “thinking one’s own group’s ways are superior to others” or “judging other groups as inferior to one’s own”. “Ethnic” refers to cultural heritage, and “centrism” refers to the central starting point… so “ethnocentrism” basically refers to judging other groups from our own cultural point of view. But even this does not address the underlying issue of why people do this. Most people, thinking of the shallow definition, believe that they are not ethnocentric, but are rather “open minded” and “tolerant.” However, as explained below, everyone is ethnocentric, and there is no way not to be ethnocentric… it cannot be avoided, nor can it be willed away by a positive or well-meaning attitude. It can, however, be an opportunity to recognize and resolve our own biases, and to learn more about potentials we all have for being human… a lifelong process of learning and growth.
To address the deeper issues involved in ethnocentrism calls for a more explicit definition. In this sense, ethnocentrism can be defined as: making false assumptions about others’ ways based on our own limited experience. The key word is assumption, because we are not even aware that we are being ethnocentric… we don’t understand that we don’t understand.
Examples of ethnocentrism
One example of ethnocentrism is seen in the above comments on the Inuit snowshoe race. I assumed that I had “lost” the race, but it turns out the Inuit saw the same situation very differently than I did. Westerners have a binary-conflict view of life (right or wrong, liberal versus conservative, etc.), and I had imposed my “win or lose” perspective of life on the situation. As a result, I did not understand how they experience life, that trying is a basic element of life. This did not necessarily involve thinking that my ways were superior, but rather that I assumed my experience was the “normal” in another group’s circumstances.
Another example illustrates how basic ethnocentrism is. If we go to a store and ask for a green coat and the sales clerk gives us a blue one, we would think the person was color blind at the best or stupid at the worst. However, “colors” are not so simple. The Inuit lump shades of what AngloAmericans call “blue” and “green” into one color category, tungortuk, which can only be translated as “bluegreen.” Does this mean that they cannot see the difference? Just as we can distinguish between different shades (such as “sky blue”, “navy blue”, “kelly green”, and “forest green”), so can the Inuit and other humans around the world. If they want to refer to what we would call “green,” they would say tungUYortuk, which can be translated something like “that bluegreen that looks like the color of a [conifer] tree.” The point is that something so “simple” as colors has very different meanings to us and to the Inuit. How could an Inuk “feel blue”? Colors, after all, are only different wavelengths of light, and the rainbow can be perceived in many different ways.
what is Ethnocentrism?
Ethnocentrism is the term anthropologists use to describe the opinion that one’s own way of life is natural or correct. Some would simply call it cultural ignorance. Ethnocentrism means that one may see his/her own culture as the correct way of living. For those who have not experienced other cultures in depth can be said to be ethnocentric if they feel that their lives are the most natural way of living. Some cultures may be similar or overlap in ideas or concepts, however, some people are in a sense, shocked to experience differences they may encounter with individuals culturally different than themselves. In extreme cases, a group of individuals may see another cultures way of life and consider it wrong, because of this, the group may try to convert the other group to their own ways of living. Fearful war and genocide could be the devastating result if a group is unwilling to change their ways of living.
xenocentrism vs ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism means The tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one’s own traditional, deferred, or adoptive ethnic culture, while Xenocentrism means a preference for the products, styles, or ideas of a different culture.
Difference between Ethnocentrism and Xenocentrism
As nouns the difference between ethnocentrism and xenocentrism is that ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one’s own traditional, deferred, or adoptive ethnic culture while xenocentrism is a preference for the products, styles, or ideas of a different culture.
The prefix ethno has to do with ethnicity, often within a society.
The prefix xeno has to do with foreigners, people actually from a different country.
So they clearly have two different meanings, but they are connected, in that when foreigners migrate into a new county and take up residence, they become a part of that country’s ethnicity in the new country. Ethnicity is due to one’s race or country of origin.
Xeno (Foreign) is the status of a person who is a citizen of a different country.
So an ethnocentric person obsesses on the origin of people in his community, and the xenocentric person obsesses on the foreign status of people in his country.