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Townhall…
Ethnocentric Studies
By Mike Adams
Ethnocentrism is under-rated. Most college students are exposed to the
concept only if they take a course in Introductory Sociology or if they
should chose to major in sociology. Even then, the concept of
ethnocentrism is presented as an evil to be extinguished by fostering
the value of anti-ethnocentrism.
For those who are not well-versed in the language of sociology,
ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to judge other cultures by the
standards of one’s own culture. Since this is a natural human tendency,
the task of fostering anti-ethnocentrism is difficult, to say the
least. But it is also self-defeating.
Technically speaking, sociologists form a sub-culture with their own
set of values, beliefs, and practices. And they are the only
sub-culture that is known to promote the value of anti-ethnocentrism.
Therefore, when sociologists tell people of other cultures
(non-sociologists) that it is bad to judge people of other cultures by
the values of their own culture, they are doing just that: judging
people of other cultures by the values of their own culture. In fact,
the value they impose on others (anti-ethnocentrism) cannot be imposed
without engaging in ethnocentrism. It is intellectual Onanism. It
produces no fruit.
While anti-ethnocentrism fails the test of internal consistency, its
greatest weakness is external. That is to say, it fails when applied to
real-world problems – problems outside the realm of theory and abstract
sociological jargon. Who can read about the Rape of Nanking or the Nazi
Holocaust and remain convinced that we should somehow refrain from
judging that which is self-evidently wrong?
Today’s college student is just as intellectually capable as
yesterday’s college student. But he (and increasingly she) often
suffers from moral atrophy. We need to combat this atrophy by
exercising the natural moral reflex. It might not require a whole major
in Ethnocentric Studies dedicated to teaching the upside of judging
cultures like Nazi Germany. But we should at least consider a course
called Introduction to Ethnocentrism. It should be a required course
within the Department of Sociology so that no one actually graduates
before fully appreciating the necessity of judging other cultures…
Read the rest of the article at Townhall
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