Ethnocentrism

This is the concept that interested me the most from the chapter eight reading. The book defines it as, "the assumption that our culture and its norms are the only right ones. I saw a video on a public access channel that showed people in Hong Kong eating animals like cats, dogs, and foxes. The program showed how the animals are cooked in large black urns. The program made it sound like this was animal cruelty, but that's the diet in that culture. Some people from India worship cows. Imagine what they think of our tastes in food.

People who practice ethnocentrism use language that is absolute. They do this to illustrate how certain they are their culture is the right one. They never consider another person's point of view. This gets in the way of effective communication. When a person doesn't hear another person's point of view, communication never takes place.