Ethnocentrism In America

Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's world view is superior to another's, usually from another part of the world, who have a different culture, races, and ethics. This disposition has been a problem among people who believe themselves to be more 'civilized' for many, many years. In the years of imperialism, Britain, France, other European nations, and even America began expanding their territory to other countries in the 19th century on the belief that it was their duty to better inferior people with 1st world culture and societal ways. Even after imperialism, ethnocentricity has unfortunately persisted to the modern day. Even though people in America strive to not be ethnocentric, remnants of it can still be seen in the media, including

In this case, it may not be as clear as the vast majority view domestic abuse of women by their husbands as a terrible thing and punishable to a severe degree. Most Americans would not believe it as they think it is never okay to hit a woman, but this view is ethnocentric. Just like many countries around the world, it was once socially acceptable to administer punishment to a spouse. Through the course of American history, women have gained significantly more rights than women in other countries, putting an end to the practice of domestic abuse of women in the US. The writer of the article fails to take into consideration the views of the people they are talking about. The writer focuses only on what happened and emphasizes Al-Laham's quotes to help demonize the practice he is promoting. This is done purposefully by the writer as the target audience is the American people, who generally have very strong opinions on domestic abuse, will see the article, become enraged by the article's title, open it and read it. This would not be an issue, if that was as far as it went, but the writer does not go on to give the emic perspective, that of Al-Laham and the culture he comes from. What the article makes no mention of is how this is common practice in that culture, it focuses on how Americans view this practice. From the other side, this happens quite often and is socially

Instead of giving their thoughts on what was seen on a television program, an anthropologist would have gone to the region Al-Laham was from and observed firsthand what was happening, and how punishing a spouse was integrated in their culture. They would listen to what the people had to say about the practice, and not just a few of them, but question as many people as would answer for the research. An anthropologist would also try to actually observe a punishment to better determine the severity of it, rather than just by word of mouth, or how the average American would interpret a beating of any kind. Overall, an anthropologist would have a much more valuable perspective on the matter, as they would do comprehensive research and give first-hand experience over what was just said on a