Culture essay
Culture is the way of life, knowledge, and characteristic of a specific group of individuals encompassing ordinary behavior, language, social habits, cuisine, moral, and religious beliefs. Culture guides a lot of things from a person’s perspective, for example, an appropriate dress code, views of the world, and language use. The broad concept involves many aspects of our lives, such as the role of gender, and family, employment, and education system. Mostly, you view the world and react to it based on your culture. Based on your reaction, it can be in the form of behavior or influence behavior. For example, Muslim women are required to wear hijabs in front of guests and to go out in the Islam culture, most of the Indian foods are spicy due to their culture, and when going to different regions, the people in that area tend to speak in their language no matter who they are addressing. Another example is Zen Buddhism, which was brought to China from out of India during the 5th century by Bodhidharma. Concepts out of Taoism such as
Chan Buddhism was one of the most prominent schools of Buddhism created, which, through
exploration and trade entered Japan. It mixed with the Japanese language and culture and
became Zen. Therefore, close examination of these culture will reveal some similarities. This is
mainly due to the migration of people to new areas and bringing in their cultures as well, thereby
influencing the people of that area. Consequently, cultural concept and ideas are continuously in
a state of movement and change.
Culture is not ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism refers to when an individual view their own culture as correct and best way to living and behaving. Therefore, most people believe their culture is the best and thus creates the notion that every culture considers theirs as superior compared to other cultures (Campbell, 2016). Small doses encourage social solidarity in society and protection by creating a sense of belonging and cultural pride. However, when taken to extremes, it can be destructive. It limits a person’s individuality, as they remain within the constraints of social group and the most relations among the inter-groups are hampered due to prejudice against different cultures. Prejudice can create tension and conflict among different cultures, and ethnocentrism is at the forefront of genocide and colonization. An example of ethnocentrism to the extreme pertains to Nazi Germany. Whereby Adolf Hitler hated the Jewish people as well as other groups of individuals, and many of them were killed in concentration camps. British Imperialism (the practice of Britain and other European countries taking over other lands) is also another example, dating back to the 16th century, as they believed that the Americas and Africa were primitive societies and needed to be updated with modern technologies. In present-day politics, there is ethnocentrism. For example, the United States often thinks of itself as more economically sound, more powerful, and better than most nations, as seen with involving itself in matters happening in other nations like in the Middle East. Other times, in cultures, when ethnocentrism is emphasized, especially in television and radio, generally slows down national development. Despite our cultural differences, there is no intrinsic difference between black and white, Jew, Islam, and Christian as we are all still humans. This is best explained in Shylock’s speech in “The Merchant of Venice,” as ethnocentrism is a powerful force that weakens human relations.
Work Cited
Campbell, Nittaya. “Ethnocentrism and intercultural willingness to communicate.” Journal of Intercultural Communication 40.1 (2016): 1.