Ethnocentrism Develops Racial and Religious Differences

Ethnocentric individuals believe that they are better than other individuals for reasons based on their heritage. Hierarchical and dichotomous thinking are the basis for ethnocentrism and ethnocentric biases (Jun 2010). According to the article titled Looking at how cultural differences influence human behavior, Kendra Cherry defined Ethnocentrism as a tendency to use your own culture as the standard by which to judge and evaluate other cultures.

In other words, taking an ethnocentric point of view means using your understanding of your own culture to gauge what is ""normal."" This can lead to biases and a tendency to view cultural differences as abnormal or in a negative light. It can also make it difficult to see how your own cultural background influences your behaviors. Furthermore, ethnocentrism can be seen as viewing one's own group more positively than others and judging another group, including perceiving other groups as inferior and less valuable. It also refers to having prejudicial attitudes towards other ethnic groups (Byrne& Kelly 1981).

In addition, ethnocentrism is caused by an in-group member's desire to protect and enhance his/her group identity. Having this in mind, there are some positive aspect of ethnocentrism these are; ethnocentrism makes individuals have a strong national pride, it creates a feeling of belonging, and it allows people to keep old traditions and practices alive. According to Jun 2010, being proud of one's own country will not lead to ethnocentrism if holistic thinking is the dominant thinking pattern of that country/ individual.

Therefore, in the film Jodhaa Akbar, Jodhaa displayed an attitude of ethnocentrism where she demands a meeting with Akbar and gave him two conditions before she will agree to the marriage rite. Thus, the demands were as follows: not to have her religion changed after marriage and that a temple be built for her to continue her faith in her room/ palace.

Furthermore, this concept of ethnocentrism impacts Jodhaa socially that she is not able to relate freely or socialize with other women outside the palace because she is blinded by her own self-righteousness. According to Gudykunst & Kim, (2002); Lukens, (1978) states that a higher degree of ethnocentrism also creates social distance in interaction among people from different cultures, which makes cross-cultural communication dysfunctional.

In addition, the concept of ethnocentrism impacts Jodhaa emotionally because according to Lin and Rancer (2003) implies that ethnocentrism might potentially bring about positive outcomes such as patriotism and willingness to sacrifice for one's own group, its negative consequences are obvious in intercultural communication because individuals with a high-level of ethnocentrism tend to misperceive people from other groups and misinterpret their behaviors. Similarly, the concept ethnocentrism impacts Jodhaa psychologically by affecting her thinking pattern. This made Jodhaa instead of her to have a holistic thinking pattern; rather had more of the inappropriate thinking style where she sees her own religion as the most sacred.

Correspondingly, as a clinician what I will do to help address my client issue is to transcend ethnocentrism by deconstructing inappropriate hierarchical and dichotomous thinking styles/patterns and adopt a holistic thinking style according to Jun (2010) she mentions that, adopting a holistic thinking style can be accomplished by deconstructing dichotomous, hierarchical, linear thinking, and generalizations through transformative learning. Transformative learning occurs by integrating emotion, which is culture specific.

Also, one of the valuable tools for facilitating transformative learning is an analysis of individuals' defense mechanisms. Interestingly, individuals use defense mechanisms to cope with their stress and anxiety. Moreover, using this method on my client will help bring life changing behaviors because it requires active client involvement, deep-level processing, and reflection (Jun 2010).

Racism

In the readings for diversity and social justice, racism is a particular form of prejudice. Hence, prejudice is a combination of stereotypes, omissions, distortions, and it is a preconceived judgment or opinion, usually based on limited information about others.

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