Ethnocentrism: Its Role In Southern Society And Culture

(John) Ethnocentrism “the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture”. In Lehman’s terms, it means you think that you and your culture is the best purely by inheritance. In America we have strong ties to ethnocentrism, from the occasional yelling of “Merica”, or the common ideology in the south that we are the greatest people to exist. Ethnocentrism has easily effected many people I’ve personally seen it expressed, seen how others react, and what it makes people think of others. Being raised in southern society and culture as a “southerner” you tend to feel an immense pride for your homeland, “Dixie, merica, or the south , whatever you want to call it that’s what we believe we are. Where I’m from there is a

It is simply human nature to hold our views and way of life as superior to all others. Often times the things we view as correct are simply opinions, where there is no right answer. This can cause communication to become difficult when both sides shut the other’s ideas out without any reasoning other than that is not how they do it. Although people must be aware of ethnocentrism in order to correct themselves, it is just like throwing wood on the fire. When you hear about ethnocentrism and the toxicity it can have on communication and relationship, your first reaction is to shift the blame. I know for a fact that when I read about ethnocentrism that the first thoughts to flash through my head are “Yeah, they, not I, should get over themselves.” I then have to take a moment to remind myself that that thought process is exactly the problem and if I continue to think that way I will only add to the

I, like everyone else, have my way of doing things and when faced with foreign thoughts and ideas, I tend to dismiss them as useless when in fact they are just not relevant to my life. However, just because a way of life does not prove relevant to my life, does not mean that it is inferior to my way of life. I live right south of Memphis, Tn; and around my area there are two main types of people. First you have the more city going folks who spend most of their free time up in Memphis. Then you have the folks that would rather spend their free time out in the sticks or at a buddy’s house just hanging out. Personally, I fall into the country crowd that would rather be out riding around on back roads than be up in the middle of the hectic traffic of city life. This causes me to clash with many of the folks that I went to school with. They can be found going to concerts, sports games, and other events in the city. On the other hand, I can be found running around rural country roads hitting fishing holes and living life slow and easy, at least for me. Others might view the ways that I prefer to pass the time as boring or a waste of time, and I might view their pass times as crazy or a hassle. Yet, just because we each have differing opinions on certain matters like how to have fun, that doesn’t mean that either of us are