Ethnocentrism and symbolic interactionism in American society

¶ … Ethnocentrism in American Society

On September 11, 2001, not only did a major tragic event occur on American soil that resulted in the loss of thousands of innocent civilians, but it was also an event that American President George W. Bush described as awakening a "sleeping giant (the Washington Times, 2004, p. A21)." The sleeping giant Mr. Bush referred to was perhaps different than the one which ultimately lay awake in the years following 9/11 contemplating America at war on not one, but two, foreign landscapes; the loss of young American lives as result of those engagements, the seemingly increasing hatefulness with which much of the rest of the world perceived America and the inexplicable blind-eye of ethnocentrism with which most Americans viewed the source of the hatefulness. The historical truth is that from its liberation from British rule and the creation of its Constitution, Americans embarked upon a path of ethnocentrism, perceiving itself as greater, smarter, wealthier, and more invincible than any other country in the world. Where they lacked the legitimacy of lineage Americans created its own; first, in their founding fathers who, in some instances, were legitimately connected to their European aristocracy. As time passed, Americans created their own aristocracy with figures wealthy figureheads and presidents, especially President John F. Kennedy. Through a bonding that often times arose out of tragedy, as happened on September 11, 2001 Americans have come together time and again throughout their history through symbolic interactionism to redeem themselves as a people, and as a nation. As Americans near the 2008 presidential election they are regaining some measure of lost eyesight.

This brief essay will look at effects of ethnocentrism in American society, and the ways in which symbolic interactionism served to bind and bond Americans in steps that helped the country move beyond the social and economic pitfalls that have, for instance, seen socialism and communism fall in other governments around the world. This essay will show how:

Americans celebrate and turn to symbolic interactionism in crisis

How symbolic ineractionism is synonymous with American tradition

How symbolic interactionism resolved unique social problems in America

How symbolic interactionism has put America at the forefront of world philanthropy, change and in building a global community

Cultural Relativism

American identity was formed long before the American Revolution of 1775-1783. It was their cultural identity, which began forming with the first permanent settlements in the early 17th century, and has continued manifesting itself through a symbolic ineractionism that has formed its cultural identity. Americans began forming the cultural intellectual coordinates, or bonding, with their earliest core value and those values that caused families and religious communities to uproot themselves and to embark on dangerous voyages to a new land where there none of the amenities of established comforts available to them: home and hearth, establish commerce, some local government, and community of friends, neighbors and relatives.

While these social bonds were probably not near the comfort that people in modern times enjoy, and have enjoyed for centuries now, even in their roughest form they still would have reflected a greater sense of security than did settling in on overcrowded seafaring vessels and braving treacherous seas to start anew in strange and equally dangerous new territory. So the initial steps taken towards a trip to America were a manifestation of a cultural relativism where large groups of people shared certain core values that caused them to come together to begin anew in America. This, says R.B. Walker (1984), is the first of two intellectual coordinates of a cultural communion (p. 174).

The second intellectual coordinate described by Walker is perhaps that which most clearly defines America. Walker says:

The second coordinate is the acknowledgment that the search for authenticity of a civilization is always a search for the other face of the civilization, either as a hope or as a warning. The search for a civilization's utopia, too, is part of this larger quest. This utopia needs not merely the ability to interpret and reinterpret one's own traditions, but also the ability to involve the dominant or recessive aspects of other civilizations as allies in one's struggle for cultural self-discovery, the willingness to become allies to other civilizations trying to discover their other faces, and the skills to give more centrality to these new readings of civilizations and civilizational concerns. This is the only form of dialogue of cultures that can transcend the flourishing intercultural barters of our times (Walker, 1984, p. 174)."

Later, following the American Revolution, these intellectual coordinates were put into the form of government when American leaders created the Bill of Rights, and, then, the American Constitution. Not only has the American Constitution proven viable in a changing world, but it represents the cultural relativism that is both America's strongest anchor, and its weakest link in the manifestation of it ethnocentrism that has brought America to its current world status today: unrest amongst Americans and their outspoken desire and support for political change; a currency devalued on the world market; and becoming the focus of world resentment and the target of outside resistance to its imposition of its political ideologies on other nations that some perceive as empire building.

And, still, each day thousands of applications are made by people in search of the "American dream," requesting permission to enter the country either permanently, long-term, or even temporarily in order to get a foot onto American soil where they can begin experiencing the core values that continue to bind Americans as a nation. That America is a country of immigrants making it one of the most culturally diverse places in the world is no doubt its magnetic pull on people from other countries of the world. That these immigrants recognize in America the opportunity to partake in core values not a part of their own culture, while at the same time being able to retain the identity of their cultural traditions, is also part of that magnetic draw to America. This is what Robert a. Wiklund and Peter M. Gollwitzer (1982) describe as goal oriented self-definition (p. 4).

Self-definition, say Wiklund and Gollwitze, are a creation of society (p. 5). American society is a reflection of its intellectual coordinates, and thusly the expression of Americans' self-definition is expressed through symbolic interactionism. The first symbol celebrated by Americans is its inception: Thanksgiving reflects a community celebration of the beginning of the American identity in its core values: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the right to representation in government. The second symbol of American core values and American self-identity is the American Constitution; a document so fluid that it has allowed for the evolution of American society in a way that has survived into modernity. For this reason, it might be called the only living governing tool, and is celebrated in that symbolic regard by Americans. Another symbol that is celebrated by Americans is religious identity; and whether or not you are a Christian, other non-Christian cultures have assimilated if not into the Christian mainstream, at least into the symbolic seasonal celebration of religious identity. This is symbolic interactionism manifested through cultural relativism.

Culture Shock

For many years, Kennedy was not mentioned in conversations about the most controversial and debated events in American history; the Vietnam conflict. Kennedy reigned as a symbol of American values, and he avoided designation of blame for his role in taking Americans into Vietnam because Americans would not denigrate his memory or the image by which they identified themselves in him by laying responsibility at Kennedy's political door. Americans assuaged their grief with discussions of what he "would have" done had he not been struck down in the prime of his life and presidency. The symbolic interactionism by Americans in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr., has given political leaders the opportunity to take over the American government from the people, establishing a government of dominant and counter elites, which Charles R. Adrain describes as:

The dominant elite and the counter elite differ in two important ways. The elite controls the most significant of the decision-making positions in both public and private life, but not necessarily all of them. In addition, the elite is committed to an ideology that defends, for the most part, the current distribution of statuses, monetary resources, and political power in the society. The counterelite disagrees with the existing distribution and the present means for gaining rewards and benefits (p. 30)."

Today, leaving most Americans in a state of culture shock, Kennedy has been given responsibility for leading Americans into Vietnam. It remains a sensitive discussion.

The events of 9/11 did indeed awaken a sleeping giant; the American people their initial response was one of unity, symbolic bonding in the display of the American flag and coming together behind President George W. Bush in an hour of crisis. However, as the sleeping giant shook off the sleep, rubbed its eyes, it was shocked to see that the perception of it that the world had was very different than the perception it had of itself. It was a culture shock, a rude awakening to which the groggy giant is only now becoming fully cognizant of.

In the beginning, according to a well-known hermeneutician, was Word; but before the Word was the act, and in time it became a social act and a discursive act. Since then, too, the events and activities of everyday life have been acts and social acts -- worded or otherwise. John Dewey gave expression to this view in very clear terms. He proposed that "signalling acts evidently formed the basic material of language, but are not language yet nor yet are they its sufficient condition" (1925: 77). The very emergence and continuation of social relationships and society are based on such acts and social acts (Perinbanayagam, 1985, p. 1)."

The cultural shock with which Americans met Kennedy's participation in Vietnam, the recent near demise of the Catholic Church in America, and, with the events of 9/11 the resentment towards Americans from countries around the world; has served to bring about change in the way Americans perceive themselves. As is typical of American symbolic interactionism, they are coming together to bring about change on their home front and for the first time in American history, a black man and a woman have a very good chance of becoming the next American president.