Culture is made up of values. behaviours. objects. and other features customary to the persons who are a portion of a certain group or society. It is how we define and mold ourselves to our society’s shared rules. enabling us to lend to our society. But until we experience another civilization different from our ain. we are non even cognizant of what features make up ours. In most instances. we do non admit our civilization until another single breaches one or our traditions. or we disregard person else’s.
If a individual takes into consideration another culture’s criterions and behaviours and understands that there is no right or incorrect between the two civilizations. so that individual has reached cultural relativism. However. this is hard to make as it is common for all people everyplace to put their ain civilization forms at the centre of things. no affair which civilization he or she is a portion of. When people do this. cultural struggles are initiated. as seen in the film Schindler’s List. which portrays a about casebook illustration of utmost ethnocentrism.
One of the characteristics of any civilization. ethnocentrism is the pattern of judging another civilization based on the criterions of one’s ain civilization ( Macionis & A ; Plummer. 2010 ) . When a individual evaluates another civilization. that culture’s traditions. imposts. linguistic communication. and other racial patterns are compared to his or her ain. and finds those people to be inferior or lower to themselves. This can take to amour propre. false pride. and a high quality composite. in respect to one’s ain ethnicity. ensuing in condescending and sometimes violent behaviour towards the other civilization.
If the people of one civilization garbage or can non understand or set to the other people’s civilization. black effects arise. that include war and race murder. This is the footing of the Nazi and Jewish civilizations seen in Schindler’s List. A film by Steven Spielberg. Schindler’s List is the true narrative of Oskar Schindler. a member of the Nazi party. a womaniser. a war profiteer. and the Jesus of more than 1. 100 Jews during the Holocaust of WWII ( Spielberg. 1993 ) . The film opens in Krakow. Germany during WWII. with the initial persecution of the Judaic people populating at that place.
Any concerns and occupations the Judaic people had were taken off by the German military. and they now are being forced into the Ghetto to be crammed together without their ownerships and really small vesture and nutrient. As the film progresses. the Judaic people face ever-increasing inhuman treatment at the custodies of German soldiers. In the center of all of this is Oskar Schindler who is looking for a manner to do a enormous net income from the war. He starts a mill doing pots and pans. utilizing the Judaic people populating in the Ghetto as labourers.
The narrative is about Schindler’s cultural attitude ( very German Nazi ) that changes as he sees the atrocious and indefensible anguish and slaying of the Jews that work for him. After oppugning his Nazi values. he realizes how really incorrect the Nazi sentiments are of the Judaic civilization. and ends up utilizing his ain money purchasing 1. 100 Jews from a Nazi commanding officer. in order to salvage them from the Auschwitz decease cantonment. His “list” contains the names of his workers. whom he buys to get down another mill in the Chez Republic.
After watching the film. there was really small that this author did non happen culturally flooring. The attitudes of the Germans towards the Judaic people were one’s of disgust. hatred. and complete indifference to any hurting. agony. or fear the Judaic people were sing. The film was filmed wholly in black and white ( except for the small girl’s ruddy coat ) . go forthing the spectator to concentrate and absorb the Nazi’s attitudes of cultural high quality over anyone non like them. without the distractions of the colourss environing these two conflicting civilizations.
The ruddy coat is highly of import as it symbolizes Schindler’s waking up ; foremost. as the small miss runs through the Ghetto looking for a topographic point to conceal as her people are massacred by German soldiers ( witnessed by Oskar ) ; and 2nd. when Schindler witnesses the combustion of 10. 000 dead Judaic organic structures heaped on elephantine combustion hemorrhoids. he sees the dead organic structure of the small miss still have oning the ruddy coat. One cultural difference between the American civilization and the Nazi civilization is the forcing of an full race into one cardinal location. depriving off rights. belongings. and employment.
American civilization would non make this. but the Nazi civilization considered it their responsibility to round up and kill off the “vermin” life in their state. The Judaic people did non arise or protest against their intervention from the German soldiers. even when one Jewish adult male was dragged out of a line by a soldier and shooting in the caput in forepart of household and friends. for no ground or cause. In another scene of random shot. a German commanding officer used the working Jews inside his cantonment as mark pattern.
Although the people were working difficult and were about starved. this Nazi viewed them as nil more than rats and killed them. A individual making this in America would be arrested. put in gaol. and most likely be given a decease sentence after his test. Another cultural difference ( and one hard to watch ) was the combustion of dead organic structures in immense hemorrhoids out in a field. Because the Nazi civilization did non see Judaic people to be human. it was absolutely acceptable to fire the “garbage”. As it was the quickest and easiest method of extinguishing waste.
There is no comparing for this to American civilization. and the merely other justified case of these huge measures of firing organic structures go oning in history was during the pestilences that hit Europe. It was a major civilization daze to this author to see half burnt organic structures being pulled out of ash hemorrhoids. so carted to another firing heap. all done by the Judaic people imprisoned in the cantonment. Ethnocentrism promotes inequality because the civilization who believes it is superior can be the larger or dominant civilization compared to other civilizations. giving it the power to make Torahs that discriminate against anyone that is different.
Having supreme power. this civilization can alter the societal and fiscal position of persons or cultural groups. without any concerns or compunction for depriving the really humanity from another civilization. The dominant civilization additions inequality by segregating any individual ( or group ) judged to be inferior to its ain. or coerce the inferior civilizations to give up their values. beliefs. and patterns and follow the dominant culture’s beliefs.
In utmost ethnocentrism. race murder occurs because the dominant civilization believes that other inferior civilizations need to be wiped from the face of the Earth. therefore fring the planet of crud and ignorance. Business is non conducted the same manner between civilizations. so conflicts can go on when the two different civilizations are locked to ethnocentrism. One factor is the communicating procedure in which each civilization assumes that concern will be conducted in its ain native linguistic communication. state English and Nipponese.
Correct interlingual rendition is important to success if neither civilization is willing to make concern in a different linguistic communication other than its ain. Certain speech patterns may besides reenforce ethnocentrism. making a negative stereo-type and perchance reenforcing biass ( Cross-cultural. 2011 ). A culture’s societal organisation can besides hold ethnocentrism struggles. For illustration. one civilization believes in gender equality while another believes adult females are inferior to work forces. and so they have different or no rights compared to the work forces of that civilization.
Another struggle between two concerns from different civilizations is the usage of child labour. Western civilizations find these patterns horrible and exploitative. but those civilizations that allow kids to work make non set the value of educating their kids above the family’s endurance. A working kid can convey the household the much needed fundss to supply survival necessities. such as nutrient. vesture. and shelter for the full household. As we have seen. civilization is really complex and can act upon every facet of our lives.
Ethnocentrism is a cosmopolitan human reaction that is seen in all known societies or groups. and in about every person. Ethnocentrism may look to promote solidarity of a group and strengthen trueness. but it besides hinders any apprehension of a different group or civilization. Because one civilization believes their manner is the best manner. there is no inducement to interact with another civilization decided inferior. Positively. this kind of struggle frequently leads to societal alteration. but negatively. it discourages alterations and promotes favoritism. wars. or the race murder of another civilization.
