Judging Other Cultures: A Personal Analysis

I have a friend that experienced a life altering spiritual and physical journey. What she thought would look good on a resume turned into something greater. After she took the plunge in joining the United States Peace Corps, she had many days and nights where she thought about throwing in the towel and returning to a familiar place. Because she felt isolated, and out of place. However, the positive energy she was feeding off from the Tanzanian people never let her quit. She spoke so eloquently about immersing herself into a new environment, culture and group of people that seem to different from her. The language barrier was the hardest part of her transitioning process into a new location. However, in no time her diet changed, …show more content…
She was naïve and believed that since everyone thought of the United States as the best best nation in the world, she would use that perspective to compare other nations. She used a more ethnocentrism way of judging other cultures. “William Sumner (1906), who developed this concept, said, “One’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it” (Henslin, p.50). I would completely oppose his opinion because not only is is dangerous, it actually leads to a negative evaluation of different cultures. It devalues the importance of that particular culture when discussing one’s own culture. Ethnocentrism was the standard method that people used when critically examining other cultures. Many people are guilty for still using this kind of approach, whether they unconsciously or consciously do it. My friend was guilty of using this method in America when meeting foreigners or different kinds of Americans. It took her to leave the U.S. and find the answers in a different continent, culture and people. “Culture within Us”: Our Lens for Viewing