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  3. American ethnocentricity, while manifest in general attitudes toward others is, of course, tempered somewhat by the very heterog

American ethnocentricity, while manifest in general attitudes toward others is, of course, tempered somewhat by the very heterog

admin2012-01-05  56
问题 American ethnocentricity, while manifest in general attitudes toward others is, of course, tempered somewhat by the very heterogeneity of the population that we have been examining. Thus, while there are the broad standard-expressed in the ways most Americans set goals for their children, organize their political lives, and think about their society in contrast to others-living in our racial and ethnic mosaic makes us more inclined to think in terms of layers or circles of familiarity. A black from Chicago feels and thinks very American in Iago or Nairobi as does an Italian from Brooklyn when visiting relatives in Calabria or Sicily.  But when they get home, they will generally reveal to feeling "black" in contrast to " white" and Italian in comparison to other Americans in their own communities.
   Ethnocentrism is found in political as well as in ethnic contexts.  Much of the discussion of patriotism and loyalty is couched in language that reflects rather narrow culture-bound thinking.  At various periods in our history this phenomenon has been particularly marked—we remind ourselves of the nativistic movements of the pre-Civil War period, of the anti-foreign organizations during the time of greatest immigration, and the McCarthyism of the early 1950s.  During the McCarthy era there was a widespread attempt to impose the notion that anyone who had ever joined a Marxist study group, supported the Loyalist in the Spanish Civil War, or belonged to any one of a number of liberal organizations was "un-American."
   It is clear that not only those "over the sea" are viewed (and view others) ethnocentrically. These distinctions between "they" and "we" exist within societies as well. In modem industrial societies most individuals belong to a wide array of social groups that differentiate them from others—familial, religious, occupational, recreational, and so on.  Individuals are frequently caught in a web of conflicting allegiances. This situation is often surmounted by a hierarchical ranking of groups as referents for behavior. In most societies, including our own, the family is the primary reference group. As we have seen in the U. S. , ethnic or racial identity and religious groups are often judged on the basis of how closely they conform to the standards of the group passing judgment.
   Thus, several studies have shown that in American society many whites holding Christian beliefs, who constitute both the statistical majority and the dominant group, rank minorities along a continuum of social acceptability. They rate members of minority groups in descending order in terms of how closely the latter approximate their image of "real Americans." Early studies of "social distance" indicated that most ranked groups in the following manner- Protestants from Europe at the top, then, Irish Catholics, Iberians, Italians, Jews, Spanish-Americans.  American-born Chinese and Japanese, blacks, and foreign-born Asians. A 1966 study suggested the following rank order: English, French, Swedes, Italians, Scots, Germans, Spaniards, Jews, Chinese, Russians, and blacks. While, over the years, most Americans generally have considered those of English or Canadian ancestry to be acceptable citizens, good neighbors, social equals, and desirable marriage partners, relatively few feel the same way about those who rank low in scales of social distance.
   There is an interesting correlate to this finding.  Investigators have found that minority-group members themselves tend to accept the dominant group’s ranking system—with one exception, each tends to put his or her own group at the top of the scale.
   Ranking in one characteristic of ethnocentric thinking- generalizing is another. The more another group differs from one’s own, the more one is likely to generalize about its social characteristics and to hold oversimplified attitudes towards its members. When asked to describe our close friends, we are able to cite their idiosyncratic traits, we may distinguish among subtle differences of physiognomy, demeanor, intelligence, and interests. It becomes increasingly diffcult to make the same careful evaluation of casual neighbors; it is almost impossible when we think of people we do not know at first- hand. Understandably, the general tendency is to assign strangers to available group categories that seem to be appropriate. Such labeling is evident in generalized images of "lazy" Indians,  " furtive " Japanese,  " passionate " Latins,  and " penny-pinching" Scots.
   Ranking others according to one’s own standards and categorizing them into generalized stereotypes together serve to widen the gap between "they" and "we." Freud has written that "in the undisguised antipathies and aversions which people feel toward strangers with whom they have to do we may recognize the expression of self- love—of narcissism," in sociological terms, a function of ethnocentric thinking is the enhancement of group cohesion. There is a close relationship between a high degree of ethnocentrism on the part of one group and an increase of antipathy toward others. This relationship tends to hold for ethnocentrism of both dominant and minority groups.
   Choose the most appropriate from the four choices to complete the sentence.
Answer the question according to the passage. What ideas are behind the generalized image of "lazy" Indians? Answer the question in 4 or 5 sentences.
选项
答案Lazy Indians is an example of generalizing in ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is a wide-existing phenomenon in American. Generalizing is one characteristic of ethnocentric thinking. Its existence reveals the fact that people tend to generalize others, assigning people to available group categories according to their nationality, race, occupation or other figures easy to find out before they get a thorough understanding of them.
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