Bennets Theories

Bennet’s Theories

Of Ethnocentrism and Ethno-relativism

Lorina Reznicek

April 29, 2015

Enzo Milano

HIST 317F E221 History and Culture of Naples

Abstract

I am an unconvinced person in the philosophies of others without supplementary understanding of the person. So the first question I asked myself was; who is Milton J. Bennet? I have always been eager to fully understand where a person is coming from before I decide to approve of their concepts. I found that Milton J. Bennet started his life in the Peace Corps and when he finished his college education he became a professor of intercultural communications. He is now an adjunct professor of intercultural studies in the Department of Sociology of the University of Milano, Bicocca in Italy, and also teaches in the graduate programs of the University of Switzerland in Lugano, Danube University in Krems, Austria, and Peking University Summer School in Beijing, China. His life among different cultures and all kinds of people has made him realize that it changes people over time and he wanted to explain how and why. That is when he birthed the “Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity also known as (DMIS) (Bennet, M., 2004). The DMIS is when individuals grow into being more intercultural competent and make a major change in the way they live and experience their lives. Bennet refers to this as the change from ethnocentrism to ethno-relativism.

Introduction

According to Bennet there is a sequence to the development of becoming interculturally competent. To understand these steps one first needs to comprehend what ethnocentrism means as well as defining ethno-relativism to move from one to the other. He has concluded that there are six different types of experiences a person will pass through on their journey from ethnocentrism to ethno-relativism. The steps in the process of this movement comprise of denial, defense, minimization, acceptance, adaptation, and integration.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism...