African Journal Of Political International -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The African Journal Of Political International? Answer: Introduction Ethnocentrism is closely related to cultural relativism (refer to link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9imf2B_u_jI). It is the practice of comparing ones one cultural practices with those of others (Van der Geest, 2014). It is basically meant to judge others culture by comparing by the values and standards of ones own culture (refer to link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-S-lQH9Fpg). The ethnocentric individuals automatically find their culture as superior and others culture as inferior. The basis for the judgement is generally religion, behaviour, language and custom. The main purpose of the distinctions and subdivision is to define the unique cultural identity of each ethnicity. The words Ethnocentrism itself means grouping of a culture to the centre. It is a means by virtue of which people believe that they have been granted the highest position not only among the people of present condition but also in comparison to the people belonging to the history. The term was composed by Ludwig Gumplowicz and later was further employed by William G. Sumner. It was characterised as leading to the belief of superiority of ones culture and contempt of the other. It often leads to pride and vanity among the members of the particular group. Ethnocentrism is considered as the major reason for the division among the members belonging to different groups, religion, races or ethnicity in a particular society (Clayton, 2014). It is a global human reaction which is found not only in societies but also in all individuals. This characteristic is learnt by the individuals as they grow up and is not inborn. Ethnocentric individuals generally have the tendency of giving superiority to ones culture in terms of religion, language and behaviour (refer to link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nevjyUjhfsE). Ethnocentrism is generally meant to maintain those orders which are not social but more apparent. It discourages change but negatively provides continuance of the particular status (Cargile Bolkan, 2013). Ethnocentric individuals believe that the culture followed by them is the best and when they interact with the people of other culture they find that those cultures and traditions are not appropriate. This leads to hindrance in adopting and understanding the culture of other groups. It also incorporates the feeling of hostility, suspicion and disdain (Njoroge Kirori, 2014). Ethnocentrism may be subtle or it may be overt. However, in human psychology it is generally taken as a negative connotation. Ethnocentric individuals have a belief that their culture is better than other cultures and the reason for such belief is based only on the heritage that they possess. Moreover, these believes gives rise to racism and prejudice among the people of other culture (Maxwell Parent, 2013). It often leads to conflict among different culture which leads to social change and ethnocentrism acts as a vehicle for promoting such changes. It occurs not only in local levels but also in political level. Ethnocentrism has positive as well as negative impacts on the society (refer to link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUabgCxFnjs). The positive effect includes encouraging the solidarity in the society as well as in groups and in the long run builds stronger co-operation among the members of the society (Ridzuan, 2016). It also creates a sense of belonging among the group members and provides protection to them. However, it limits an individual to only the group to which he/ she belongs and is unacquainted with the changes taking place in the society. Hence, people remain backward as he/ she adopts little changes. Thus, with the above discussion it is clear that ethnocentrism creates boundaries among various groups. It gets developed within an individual as he/ she grows up. The ethnocentric people tend to give superiority to their culture and condemn others culture. It also hampers the co-operation among the other groups and leads to the creation of racism and prejudice. References: Cargile, A. C., Bolkan, S. (2013). Mitigating inter-and intra-group ethnocentrism: Comparing the effects of culture knowledge, exposure, and uncertainty intolerance.International Journal of Intercultural Relations,37(3), 345-353. Clayton, P. (2014). Religion, ethnicity and colonialism as explanations of the Northern Ireland con?ict.Rethinking Northern Ireland: Culture, Ideology and Colonialism, 40. Maxwell, A., Parent, T. W. (2013). A subterranean agenda? Racial attitudes, presidential evaluations, and Tea Party membership.Race and Social Problems,5(3), 226-237. Njoroge, M. W., Kirori, G. N. (2014). Ethnocentrism: Significance and effects on Kenyan society.African Journal of Political Science and International Relations,8(9), 356. Ridzuan, a. R. B. H. (2016). Mediating effect of ethnocentrism on relationship between social networking site factors and social solidarity. Van der Geest, S. (2014). Overcoming ethnocentrism: how social science and medicine relate and should relate to one another.The Concept of Race" in Natural and Social Science", 173.