Examples of Ethnocentrism in Life

Ethnocentrism is the belief of one’s culture being superior to other people’s cultures. This is a very alarming belief because it causes division and conflicts among people as they tend not to accept that other people’s cultures are better than theirs.

Example 1

In my life when I was young the most common religion in our country was The Roman Catholic and I was brought up knowing that this was the only good religion among other religions. I grew up believing that all the other religions are bad. When I went to school I met with students from all kinds of cultures and religions. It was very hard for me to be able to interact with other students. In my head, I had those teachings about other religions and it was very hard for me to let go of them. For instance, I believed that all Muslims were terrorists and would harm other people without caring. This experience clearly showed how ethnocentric I was as I believed that my religion was more superior to that of other people and that is a very bad thing.

Example 2

On the post written by Sharon Arriaga on her personal experience with ethnocentrism in matters of her meals she stated that she has always had a negative look at why her Korean colleague could eat rice as the main meal yet rice was just a very bad food to her. Her beliefs made her believe that the only tortilla was the best meal to have as the main meal and others as side dishes. She could not appreciate the Koreans main meal being rice. It was not until she had that talk with her colleague that she was able to understand the Koreans culture and be able to appreciate it.

Example 3

On post by Freshta Faisal on his personal experience with ethnocentrism in matters of his cultures Fresh being a Muslim has always abided by his culture of eating his meals with his hands. He states that other cultures find it funny when people with their hands or use chopsticks to eat yet they forget that it is their culture and they are following them just as any other person would. We see that fresh has to put aside his cultures and traditions when he is at work or is having a meal in an American restaurant as a way to show respect to their culture. He states that he does this only because it is the right thing so as for the Americans to be able to respect his culture just as he respects theirs.  

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