Ethnocentrism and Cultural

Relativism
Estudios Culturales I

Prof. María José Schamun

 What is Ethnocentrism?
 A perspective of the world in which we
consider our own culture to be the measure of
everything.
 We put our culture in the “center” of the
world and we judge others to be right or
wrong based on how far apart or close they
are to our own perspective.
 An example of an Ethnocentric view

• In some countries people drive on the right

and in others they drive on the left. To
consider that those who drive in the opposite
direction to us are wrong, is to loose sight of
the context.
Ethnocentrism
 What is Cultural Relativism?
 Considering cultural practices as relative to
context rather than imposing our own frame of
reference (judging based on our experience).

• Someone with an ethnorelative view will try

and think about a cultural practice from the
perspective of the culture in question rather
than judging based on their own experience.
 An example of a
Culturally relative view
• In Arabic the writing is different to English and
other European languages as you read from
right to left.

 Rather than viewing writing from right to left as

“wrong” the person views it simply as different.
They recognize that their own culture is one of
many cultures with different practices and
traditions.
 Ethnocentric Vs. Culturally relative
Ethnocentric Culturally relative
• Judging other cultures using • Considering other cultures
your own experience as a and practices relative to the
measure of what is normal. context.
• Anything outside of your • Not imposing a judgement
experience or knowledge is based on the experience
judged abnormal, weird or and knowledge of your
wrong. culture.
Where do we see this in practice?
• Have you ever noticed that travel guide books
often have information about cultural practices
and behaviour that is considered disrespectful?

 This information is provided to develop

awareness about different practices and beliefs,
in other words to help people develop
intercultural competence.
What is intercultural competence?
 Intercultural competence is the ability to
communicate effectively and appropriately
with people of other cultures.

• Test your intercultural competencies! http://

www.areyouintercultural.eu
Milton Bennett’s Model of Intercultural
Sensitivity
 What’s the idea?
 Based on Bennett’s research the model attempts to
explain different stances people can inhabit on a
spectrum from an ethnocentric viewpoint to an
ethnorelative one.

 With experience and knowledge of cultural

differences, people may move along the spectrum and
their ability to engage in respectful intercultural
communication is enhanced. They will improve their
intercultural competence.
 Denial
• Denial of cultural difference indicates an experience in
which cultural difference is not perceived at all, or it is
perceived only in very broad categories such as "foreigner"
or "minority." The constructs available for perceiving one's
own culture are far more complex than those available for
other cultures. Individuals experience psychological
and/or physical isolation from cultural difference.

 People are disinterested or perhaps even hostilely

dismissive of intercultural communication.
 Defense
• Defense against cultural difference indicates an
experience in which cultural difference is perceived
in stereotyped and polarized ways. Cultures are
organized into "us and them," where typically the
"us" is superior and the "them" is inferior.

 People at Defense are threatened by cultural

difference, so they tend to be highly critical of other
cultures and apt to blame cultural difference for
general ills of society.
 Reversal
• Reversal, one's own culture is heavily
criticized, while other cultures are perceived in
relatively non-critical, romanticized ways. The
intercultural worldview is still polarized, but
the poles are reversed.

 People at Reversal view other cultures as

better than their own.
 Minimization
• Minimization of cultural difference indicates an experience in which
elements of one's own cultural worldview are perceived as universal.

 People assume that their own physical or psychological experiences

are shared by people in all cultures, and/or that certain basic values
and beliefs transcend cultural boundaries.
 The stressing of cross-cultural similarity reduces Defense, so people
here are much more tolerant of superficial cultural diversity.
 However, Minimization obscures deep cultural differences, including
the masking of dominant culture privilege by a false assumption of
equal opportunity ie. The assumption is made that everyone has the
same opportunity to access resources like schools or jobs even
though this may not be the case as a result of cultural difference eg.
having a different religion
 Acceptance
• Acceptance of cultural difference indicates an experience
in which one's own culture is experienced as just one of a
number of equally complex worldviews. Acceptance does
not mean agreement - cultural difference may be judged
negatively - but the judgment is not ethnocentric.

 People at Acceptance are curious about and respectful

toward cultural difference, but their knowledge of other
cultures does not yet allow them to easily adapt their
behavior to different cultural contexts.
 Adaptation
• Adaptation to cultural difference indicates the
experience of generating appropriate alternative
behavior in a different cultural context. Adaptation
involves intercultural empathy, or experiencing the world
to some extent "as if" one were participating in the
different culture. This imaginative participation generates
"feelings of appropriateness" that guide the generation
of authentic behavior in the alternative culture.

 People at adaptation can enact their intercultural

sensitivity as intercultural communication competence.
 Integration
• Integration of cultural difference indicates an
experience of self that is expanded to include the
movement in and out of different cultural
worldviews.

 People with a predominant Integration position

often are dealing with issues related to their own
"cultural liminality," or in-betweeness. This liminality
can be used to construct cultural bridges and to
conduct sophisticated cross-cultural mediation.