Ethnocentrism
Even in the most democratic of the Western capitalist nations, equal rights were not extended to all individuals until fairly recent times. Racism and ethnocentrism were built into the world political and economic system, and authoritarian forms of government remained the norm well into the 20th Century. Defining ethnocentrism is not necessarily as simple a matter as it might appear to be at first sight, however. This tendency to ascribe negative characteristics to those of other colors, cultures, languages and religions has hardly been unusual in history, and is by no means confined to the Western capitalist powers. Even after the end of feudalism in the West in the early modern period, ethnocentrism and racism continued in new forms, even if the labor system was no longer as violent and coercive as slavery or serfdom. Slave labor was generally relegated to the colonies and the periphery, including Russia and the Southern United States. Apart from throwbacks like fascism and Nazism in the 20th Century, however, outright slavery has long since been in decline in the core capitalist nations.
Although formal colonialism had ended by the 1960s and 1970s, the present global economy has its roots in the conquest of the Americas that began with Christopher Columbus in 1492. For centuries, the main role of the colonial and semi-colonial economies in the world was to supply raw materials and agricultural commodities to the few Western nations that...
Voting to Violence, Jack Snyder starkly poses some of the most vexing questions for foreign policy analysts during the 1990's. Why was this decade, despite the collapse of the totalitarian system of communism and an overall greater global potential for democratic involvement, marked by a worldwide increase in ethnic conflict and hatred in Europe and across the larger world? Why did this "the process of democratization" become seemingly "one of
Tolerance Global terrorism has changed the entire spectrum of tolerance in today's world. Highlighted by the events of 9/11 the facts that even the world's most powerful nation was not immune to the effects of terrorism brought home the fact that there was little defense to the acts of terrorists. The age of innocence in the United States had ended and the rest of the world waited to see how the
The Sopade (underground messages to the Social Democratic Party's headquarters in exile) confirmed that a plurality of attitudes towards Jews -- ranging from virulent hatred to apathy and indifference -- continued to exist during the Third Reich and that these attitudes were shaped as much by geographical, class, and religious affiliations as by propaganda (Brown, 2002)." An example of Christian in 2004, Director Mel Gibson became embroiled in controversy for
Native Americans Describe what is known of the tribe's pre-Columbian history, including settlement dates and any known cultural details. Before Columbus came to the "New World," the pre-Columbian era, the Cherokee occupied an area that today is western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and northern Georgia (Waddington 2006). The Cherokee traveled even further past these areas, however, to hunt and to trade their wares. The Cherokee had occupied this area for a good
Playwright Israel Zangwill Is United States of America in the second decade of 21st century a melting pot -- the kind of melting pot that was envisaged by Israel Zangwill close to 104 years ago? The answer is an overwhelming no. Today more than ever there is no one idea of Americanness or American culture that is acceptable across the board. Most of this is attributable to the differences in the
Drug use patterns changed from soft and psychedelic drugs like cannabis and mushrooms to harder drugs like barbiturate pills and heroin. The focus on the hippie movement also dissolved. What started as a relatively cohesive challenge to commercialism and corruption ended up being a fragmented array of debauch. The death of celebrity musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Janice Joplin triggered the end of the hippie heyday. In spite of
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