Blog 2 topics - Confluence: "Ethnocentrism What is ethnocentrism? Why does it occur? Under what conditions is ethnocentrism likely to be maximised? "
this will be such an interesting topic because even within foreign countries ethnic groups can believe that they are superior to the natives living in the land....
there was a law passed in australia (the name of it escapes me) that made it illegal to say anything against any religion or nationality and people were put in jail for making any comment. one man went to jail for a comment he made about muslims in view of christianity. when he we released he fought for the law to be abolished and after 5 years of fighting and going all the way to the supreme court he won and the law was finally abolished.
this law has been passed in other countries, for example, France and because of it different nationalities and religions within the countries are not safe to speak out about others. ethnic groups live in certain areas and stick together. it is at a point that if you are of a particular nationality or religion you shouldnt enter other peoples areas because you could be attacked or killed. thats pretty extreme!
imagine what australia would be like if that law remained. we may not be the country we are today...FREE and allowed to speak out about what we believe in. Multiculturalism is special but i do believe it has a dangerous side and this is what i want to explore through this topic!
Monday, September 10, 2007
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2 comments:
FYI, I've added a few links which might be helpful here: Ethnocentrism
Hi Rose,
Just some thoughts here - whilst the racial vilification laws obviously can be connected to the social psychology of ethnocentrism, I'd be wary of focusing too much on this because:
a) It won't necessarily answer the question (and it's not in the question). Note that all the essay questions are set up for you to demonstrate knowledge of social psychology theory and research on an applied topic. The marking criteria emphasises theory and research pertaining to the topic and there's limited word count, so choose your focus strategically;
b) It sounds like you have some strong viewpoints with regard to a controversial topic (racial vilification laws). I'm not that familiar with the laws and can see plenty of room for health debate as well as potential for social psychological theory and research to help inform or contribute to the debate. By writing a solid essay about ethnocentrism you can probably built some social psychological foundations which could later on be applied to better understanding the racial vilification laws and their potential social implications. So, in general it is helpful to connect your writing with topics of passion; on the other hand try to strive (for the essay at least) on developing objective viewpoints and presenting balanced arguments. e.g, the Racial Vilification Laws probably in theory (whether they do in practice in another matter) are probably aimed at trying to reduce potential negative social consequences of ethnocentrism (the view that one's culture in superior which can lead to a dominant cultural group being prejudiced towards and discriminate against a minority group; in its extreme this can contribute e.g, to genocide. On the other hand, minority influence can be disproportionately influential, which I think is the point you are making). So, it seems to me that on the one hand these laws may compromise free speech and on the other hand they help to provide both majority and minority discrimination. So where do we draw the line on free speech? Or is there no line to be drawn? How can the social psychological research and theory help to inform this fundamentally deep and complex question?
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