Ethnocentrism is the preferenc eof one's own culture and people to those of another. Ethnocentrism can be observed in every single human society bu seems to be strongest in East Asian societies and weakest in Western European/North American societies. For years liberals have bene drilling into the heads of young people the statement that ethnocentrism is somehow "evil". Ethnocentrism is a part of human nature, and in my opinion cannot be completely deletrious only and only because of this fact. But let's use St. paul's old peice of advice, "by their fruits you should judge them" to evlauate the merits of ethnocentrism.

1. Ehtnocentrism increases societal cohesion.

A perfect example would be Japan. An indirect function of this would be lower crime rates, less politicla division, etc.. Ehtnocentric societies don't have problems with minorities and illegal immigrant sbecause they simply don't allow them inside. Ehtnocentric societies are by nature more stable and harmonious than "multi-cultural" ones.

2. Ethnocentrism is conducive to group survival.
Groups that possess high amounts of ethnocentrism (like the Japanese, and until very revcently the Jews) have a strong evolutionary advantage over less ethnocentric groups. They tend to survive where non-ethocentric groups die off.

3. Ethnocentrism is conductive to a family oriented culture.

This is obvious. In East Asian socieites ehtnocentrism starts with the family. Family ties are held above everything else. After this are ehtnic ties. This makes for extrmely cohesive fmailies and societies.

Ethnocentrism is a natural and positive trait in all human groups and should be encouraged by whatever means possible.

...You're on your own for this one.

--Mark

Originally posted by NachtWolf
...You're on your own for this one.

--Mark

I cna handle it. That is if anyone (excpe tthe WNs) on this board knows what ethnocentrism is. LOL :D

Yeah, you're right, that's worth a grudging laugh. It's not just because they're dumb, though; they don't really care.

Do you know anything about Philip Vernon's research on Oriental IQ? I remmber reading one of his articles a while back (in Nature magazine, I believe). It said that in his studies Orientals had a standard deviation of 12.8. I can't remmber which IQ test was used, so I don't know whether the European sd was 15 or 16. Know anything about it?

Sadly, no. Which Asians are you talking about, Pacific Rim, or everybody thrown together? 12.8 sounds about right, considering their higher average IQ but lower number of geniuses. I also recall that Africans have a SD of 7 (7!) but am not so sure about US Blacks.

--Mark

Is Ehtnocentrism Good?


Not really...

I believe you have your definition of ethnocentrism wrong. It is NOT the 'preference of one's own culture and people to those of another' it’s the ideology that one's own culture and people is SUPERIOR to those of another.

Ethnocentrism leads to misunderstanding others by falsely distorting what is meaningful and functional to other people through our own views. We see their preferences and values in terms of our own life experience and not in their context. Because we are outside their context we do not understand that their ways have their own meanings and functions in life, just as our ways have for us.

Your definition sounds more like its relating to a strong cultural heritage and in that sense it's good because it provides people with a strengthened inner sense of belonging. In a way it is looked as a natural self-esteem booster.

But ethnocentrism takes that strong but healthy cultural heritage mentality and leads you to believe that other cultures/ethnicities are not as equal, important, or functional as your own.



Persons of high self-esteem are not driven to make themselves superior to others; they do not seek to prove their value by measuring themselves against a comparative standard. Their joy is being who they are, not in being better than someone else.
- Nathaniel Branden

can we quit with the race threads already? Sheesh.

can we quit with the race threads already? Sheesh.

I hate to agree but I must, we need to drop it....this is bordering on flooding.

Ethnocentricism is different. It works for some countries so let them keep doing it. If they Japanese don't want any French in Japan, good for them. And, again, who cares if someone belives that they are superior to someone else, or another race in general. That is, als long as it does not lead to any sort of force, or mass-slaying of the "less then adequate" race. It is fine, in my opinion.

I hate to agree but I must, we need to drop it....this is bordering on flooding.

No kidding. Did you see what they changed the description of the Big Debates forum to? Hilarious. Still, people seem interested enough to keep the debates going.

--Mark

That is if anyone (excpe tthe WNs) on this board knows what ethnocentrism is. LOL

Thinking you're an Ubermensch, eh? Meh.

Originally posted by NachtWolf


No kidding. Did you see what they changed the description of the Big Debates forum to? Hilarious. Still, people seem interested enough to keep the debates going.

--Mark
It seems like creating a separate forum for "Race Relations" or something like that wouldn't be a bad idea.

Originally posted by AdamJ


Not really...

I believe you have your definition of ethnocentrism wrong. It is NOT the 'preference of one's own culture and people to those of another' it’s the ideology that one's own culture and people is SUPERIOR to those of another.




I disagree, I think it means culture, not race.

And yes, if ones culture is better than another, it is perfectly justified.

Originally posted by Rurik

It seems like creating a separate forum for "Race Relations" or something like that wouldn't be a bad idea.

oh but there is, it's called StormFront....

Originally posted by NachtWolf
Sadly, no. Which Asians are you talking about, Pacific Rim, or everybody thrown together? 12.8 sounds about right, considering their higher average IQ but lower number of geniuses. I also recall that Africans have a SD of 7 (7!) but am not so sure about US Blacks.

--Mark

Vernon did his research on Japanese children who I believe would be perefectly representative of East Asians as a whole in terms of intelligence. An SD of only 7 for Africans is extremely hard to believe even for me. Jensen says in the g factor that the sd for Africna Americans varies from 12 to 14 points on different tests (in contrast, white sd is from 15-18 points).