As defined by M&W eth·no·cen·tric adjective \ˌeth-nō-ˈsen-trik\ : having or based on the idea that your own group or culture is better or more important than others.

we— human beings— generally assume that the way we make sense of things and the way we give meaning to symbols is the “right,” “correct,” and often “superior” way. One of the goals in this book is to challenge these ethnocentric attitudes and to develop the ability to understand cultures from within their own frames of reference rather than interpreting and negatively evaluating other cultures from one’s own cultural position.

Sorrells, Kathryn Sorrells (2012-01-13). Intercultural Communication: Globalization and Social Justice (p. 7). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.

Ethnocentrism is probably one of the most important idea’s to understand when communicating interculturally. As a citizen of the United States it is vitally important that we do not think of ourselves as more exceptional or better than others because we prefer things a certain way. When examining other cultures from a point of inquiry rather than a point of ethnocentrism we may ask why something is different than we expected. I was lucky enough to travel to France and Italy and experience a mild form of cross cultural communication. I am ethnically fifty percent French and look a lot like many of the people there. One thing I noticed from a point of inquiry was: Why are the aisles in store so much smaller than in the USA? I thought and came up with the idea maybe they less space, but even in the larger department stores they often had thing placed closer together. I then started to look at more than just the aisles. I started to notice that the personal bubble of space as we call in the USA was smaller in Europe. People seems more comfortable closer together.

Positionality refers to one’s social location or position within an intersecting web of socially constructed hierarchical categories such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, and physical abilities, to name a few.

Sorrells, Kathryn Sorrells (2012-01-13). Intercultural Communication: Globalization and Social Justice (p. 12). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.

To me positionality is our personal perspective. Our lives have formed that perspective and most people have some idea of how their perspective and opinions on things are formed. There are often many hidden factors slipped into our perspectives that we think are normal. If your good old white grandmother is racist it may seem less dangerous. As compared to if you have an African-America grandmother who experienced the other side of racism. This postionality may change your perspective on what is important in life. What we choose to ignore is also determined by our postionality. In intercultural communication we need to understand how we formed in order to be able to start to understand others perspectives. I think that our personal perspective should be fluid and adapt as both our situation changes and the knowledge of the current situation changes.

Standpoint Theory

A standpoint is a place from which to view and make sense of the world around us. Our standpoint influences what we see and what we cannot, do not, or choose not to see...(Wood, 2005).The theory is derived from...the idea that economically oppressed classes can access knowledge unavailable to the socially privileged and can generate distinctive accounts, particularly knowledge about social relations. For example, German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel… suggested that while society in general may acknowledge the existence of slavery, the perception, experience, and knowledge of slavery is quite different for slaves as compared to masters. One’s position within social relations of power produces different standpoints from which to view, experience, act, and construct knowledge about the world.

Sorrells, Kathryn Sorrells (2012-01-13). Intercultural Communication: Globalization and Social Justice (pp. 12-13). SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.

Standpoint theory is important because it links the postionality and ethnocentrism. By understanding that our perspective is not the best we can work with others to understand both their perspective work towards a solution. With dialogue as a tool we can link multiple postionalities into a better solution for everyone scenario. Intercultural communication is difficult and requires stumbling through, but other people have experienced this stumbling and to be humble when you fail is important.