The Evolution of Ethnocentric Behavior - Essay Example

Ethnocentricism is rampant in the USA, research confirms that this vice has existed for a long time and it varies in severity from one generation and one region to another. Read (2002) argues that this syndrome is not only limited to America, but it is a pattern that has characterized all societies in the world.

Nevertheless, America has experienced some of the most villainous circumstances of ethnocentricism. Read, (2002) noted that ethnocentricism occurs in several ways. In America, for instance, there is a general syndrome that its codes of belief, behavior, mode of governance, state of technology, education system, etc are the finest in the whole world. This feeling alone does not amount to social evil. However, this feeling has led Americans to believe that one nation and continents are inferior.

As argued by Reynal-Querol (2002), membership in an ethnic group is based on various factors such as religion, race, physical features, language, and accent. Owing to this, there has existed internal ethnocentricism among Americans based on these attributes. One obtrusive paradigm in America has been based on race. For quite a long time, the white race has held the view that they are better than blacks and Latinos. Furthermore, before the anti-racial movements of Martin Luther King, and other like-minded activists, American society had institutionalized rules that favored whites at the expense of blacks.

For example, at some point, it was illegal for blacks to work in the American army because the whites, who were dominant, believed that blacks are incompetent. At the moment, American society is facing the menace of drug abuse and illegal immigrants. As a result, some American anti-Latino activists have blamed it solely on Mexicans. They have gone a notch higher to arm themselves and start patrolling the Arizona-Mexican border to lynch any Mexican believed to be an illegal immigrant. 

However, some scholars believe that ethnocentricism has been exaggerated in America given that there are now equal opportunities for all. Modern dynamics have made the boundaries of ethnocentricism vague, (Nowak and Sigmund, 1998). This is because there are groups that associate with one another based on the level of education, technology, family or social status, etc, and believe only in their values and strength as they despise others. Nevertheless, Ethnocentrism is still witnessed in some parts of the United States and the world over due to the strong social ties that are found within the ethnocentric groups (Axelrod & Hammond, 2003).