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Toward A Test For Ethnocentrism And Ethnorelativism Based Upon Reference Group Orientation, James C. Mayer

Dissertations and Theses

The object of this investigation is to determine whether two aspects of reference group orientation, 1) multiplicity and 2) structural variation, are possible indicators of ethnocentrism. Most of the thesis is devoted to a theoretical formulation in which reference group orientation and ethnocentrism are placed in a peroeptual framework. Reference group orientation is defined as a person's use of a frame of reference that is formed through adoption of a reference group's perspective. Ethnocentrism is defined as a person's use of a frame of reference that keeps him from accepting the viability of other cultural frames of reference. The acceptance …