Given this past week’s events, it was hard for me not to choose another topic on culture to cover other than the recent election and all of the conversation around ethnocentrism it has sparked throughout the country and around the world. I’m going to base this blog on facts as referenced in the noted articles and keep my personal opinions out of it.
This weeks lesson defines ethnocentrism as, “an exaggerated tendency to think the characteristics of one’s own group or race is superior to those of other groups or races.” (Introduction to Culture: Ethnocentrism, 2017). In contrast, the article Trump’s ethnocentrism will bring voters to the polls, pro and con (Patterson, 2016) defines ethnocentrism as, “the tendency to partition the human world into in-groups and out-groups: into “us” against “them.” These groups might be based on nationality, race-ethnicity, or religion, or any other salient social category”. In either definition, the clear point focuses on the “us” against “them” mentality.
As noted in the article Trump’s ethnocentrism will bring voters to the polls, pro and con the findings from applying the term “ethnocentrism” to politics in the 2009 book Us Against Them: Ethnocentric Foundations of American Opinion (The University of Chicago Press, 2009) still hold today. The book uncovered that ethnocentrism informs a wide range of policy opinions, including support for war, opposition to foreign aid and opposition to immigration (Patterson, 2016). If that is the case, why not use ethnocentrism to influence the opinions of the public on who to vote for?
In rallying votes for an election, some may see using ethnocentrism as a smart strategy and a way to pit one candidate as better than the other…as in an election, it is truly “us” against “them”, Republican against Democrat, and in this case Trump against Obama.
Such topics as building a wall at the Mexican border, taxing companies for moving business overseas and creating a Muslim database (regardless of how true or untrue these statements are, they have all been largely debated in the news throughout the election) served as strong messages to sway opinion and votes…and the choice of these topics for use on the campaign trail could be seen as driving an agenda on an ethnocentric platform.
Whether right or wrong, it makes me wonder if that was that the plan all along?
References:
Patterson, J. (2016, May 26). Trump’s ethnocentrism will bring voters to the polls, pro and con. Retrieved from https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2016/05/26/trumps-ethnocentrism-will-bring-voters-to-the-polls-pro-and-con/
Pennsylvania State University. Introduction to Culture: Ethnocentrism. (2017). Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1826457/modules/items/21654085
Kam, C. D., & Kinder, D. (2009). Us Against Them: Ethnocentric Foundations of American Opinion. The University of Chicago Press.
Christian says
Thank you Joseph,
Much appreciated and I’m glad you enjoyed the connection…I’m glad the election provided me some inspired content to write about! It certainly does seem that our country is strongly divided at present but I too hope that at some point we can all just come together for the greater good of the country.
Christian
Joey says
Hi Christian!
You had some really good thoughts here and I thought you connections to ethnocentrism and Trump was laid out well.
I have to admit that I couldn’t help but think about this all week too. Isn’t it amazing that our country was built from diversity and yet this diversity seems to divide us. It was shocking to see many people I knew fired up about some of the things you mentioned over the course of the campaign trail. We many never know if Trumps ethnocentrism was subconscious or a conscious attempt but I’m sure we’ll have have different opinions about it. The point is that we are a polarized nation on many issues. My hope is that we can center ourselves and once again be a nation that loves the rich cultural diversity that we have. Again, good thoughts here.
Joseph