TV Show Ethnocentricism Review

Solution Preview

Dear Student,
Hi and thank you for using Brainmass. The solution below takes a familiar TV show and presents concepts and ideas in relation to ethnocentricism and multiculturalism based on it. Having not related your travelling and cultural experience, I have made some assumptions and based a few ideas/details here from my own travels as it is necessary in the narrative according to the demands of the problem you posted. You should include your own experiences from your travels about other cultures in relation to your views, ideas and impressions of cultures other than your own. If you have not travelled out of the US, you can always look towards your experiences of cultures other than your own (i.e. experience in Chinatown or in a Chinese restaurant, experience in an American-Indian reserve, experience of Spanish, Mexican, Hispanic and Italian cultures, etc.). If you have any questions regarding the solution, please feel free to let me know via the feedback section. Good luck with your paper and studies.

Sincerely,
OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
-----------------------------------------

Ethnocentricism

American anthropologist William Sumner of Yale University coined the term in the late 19th century; basically it was the view of assuming and believing in the superiority of one's own culture and practices over that of others with or without knowledge and experience of cultures other than one's own. For him, it can lead to pride, vanity and even war (i.e. the ethnocentric view of Hitler's Nazism led to WW2). Sumner used the Greek word 'ethnos' (meaning nation or people) together with the English word center to indicate a 'nation or self-centered' worldview. In the social sciences especially in sociology and anthropology, the problem of ethnocentric views were seen as counterproductive to the efforts of research for an ethnocentric mindset presents a barrier to the understanding of cultures, practices and peoples other than one's own. Now, cultures practiced by varied peoples all over the world have been brought over by members of said cultures through economic and social migration. Globalisation has ensured that major metropolises all over the world are becoming multicultural because with trade comes new ideas and practices assimilated from or brought over by cultures other than that which is dominant or originally practiced in that location/city. There are varied ethnicities that make up the American population and dependent on the location as well as the history of the city, the ethnic make-up can either be rich and varied or leaning towards a predominantly white majority. Race-wise the US officially recognizes the following - White, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander and Hispanic. These of course are broad headings as under the Asian heading alone, there are varied possibilities including Indian/South Asian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Filipino, etc. Race however is mostly based on heritable factors based on genes and phenotypic traits. At times, this can also pertain to geographic origins and the culture practiced. The term that combines race and culture as well as cultural identity is known as ethnicity and in most cases it is the ethnic membership or an individual that matters to social scientists in relation to understanding the practices and traditions of an individual and the society/culture he/she belongs. For example Chinese ethnicity does not only denote genes but also Chinese cultural practices.

TV Show Review

Now, the US TV landscape is representative of the kind of society we have including cultural practices, trends and a representation of prevalent beliefs. If we open the TV we are ushered into a view of our society in relation to its people ...