MEDIA AND ETHNOCENTRISM

 

Ethnocentrism is the concept in which a person view’s his own ethnic group as the center of everything, and all others are only scaled and rated with reference to it. There is a characterization of vanity, pride and beliefs that one’s own group is a much better and more superior version of other groups. The article, “100% American”, was written by Ralph Linton, a known American anthropologist in the mid-20^th century. This article is all about the typical American who walks around in his little life, all of the things in which he interacts/ uses are made or invented from other countries besides his own, and in the end, still thinks that he is 100% American, assuming that everything is American- made.

This article is from his book, “American Mercury” which was written in 1937. The purpose of this article is to show an example of ethnocentrism and how it can affect a society or other societies for that matter. I think that the way Linton wrote about American’s ethnocentrism in this article was entertaining, intellectual and humorous. I liked how he was sarcastic and ironic in portraying how much an American could really think so highly of himself even if all the things around him are not even his country’s invention. I felt that this article could be both a warning and an awareness campaign for those who are bias among their own countries to recognize other countries as equals and to be aware that these countries have more contributions to society than one country can contribute to the world. It is one of the best, if not perfect, ways to inform the masses that different cultures have their own contributions to society’s improvement. Innovations are made through the inventions of different people from different countries and those who are ethnocentric should be made aware of this in order to save shame the next time they try to brag about their own country.

For other people who might chance upon this article, I think that they will also find it amusing, if they get over the fact that the article is long. It has humor and knowledge that I think most readers would understand. But for those closed minded people, I think that they will interpret the article as a joke or a way subtly inform people of boring old history lessons because of the places and inventions mentioned in the said article. But I think that most will really be able to grasp the concept of ethnocentrism, especially for Americans. It might not just be for Americans but also for other cultures that take too much pride on their own culture that this article could be applicable, and in which readers could really reflect upon.

How about you?

Are you going to go ethnocentric?

*link to the article: http://www.vagablogging.net/one-hundred-percent-american-by-ralph-linton.html

**images came from the internet, I do not claim ownership over them