The Importance Of Ethnocentrism

The struggle to balance our many diversities with unity and, at least some tolerance and cooperation, has been one long battle between mankind and itself. Often, it seems almost eternal, a flame that cannot be extinguished unless all its kindling is dunked in some eye-opening truth and acceptance. Today, as much as any other day in history we experience these acts against each other: as impactful as Russia and Ukraine or the conflicts between Israeli and Palestinian people or as silly as Brazil and Argentina’s famous football rivalry. More industrialized countries/societies, particularly western societies, can obtain a certain superiority complex. Ethnocentrism plays a role in this; in a large amount of cases the “inferior cultures” lacked something like stronger military forces and technological advances, or even a disadvantage caused by the local geography that was dubbed weaker than their opponents.

As humans, because we definitely are all “humans,” we share the ability to experience and create culture and with it the capacity to experience feelings of superiority towards other cultures. Our major dilemma is the one in which we forget that, though we may be different in culture, we are the same in race. We are all human and we are all one race—not many races. The idea that there is a hierarchy of certain people, that some are lesser than others, is based purely on outward appearances, on social misconceptions and not biological evidence. We unfortunately forget that our different beliefs and desires and ideas are not passed down like inherited genes but are learned concepts we each are faced with from the moment of birth.

One can sort of compare our personal cultures along our society’s culture to George Cantor’s idea that t...

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...nce that could lead to global unification.

So, what does anthropology do to create a more tolerant and homocentric world? How has culture shaped me? (Please skim back over all previous context! Por favor.) I still have a long ways to go before fully understanding myself, as does anyone, but culture plays a definite role (roughly an 86.983738492748% chance) in helping mold me as an individual and a member of society. Maybe a slightly naïve solution to help filter through our judgments would simply be to make as many friends as you possibly can in this life from as many walks on Earth as possible. Learn from someone who is not molded from the same cookie cutter as you. Grow from friendships/acquaintances with tolerance, knowing you do not always have to agree with each other but merely agree to disagree and become tolerant and accepting of each other’s differences.