Arab-Muslim Societies Stereotypes Misunderstandings.
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Transcript of Arab-Muslim Societies Stereotypes Misunderstandings.
Fundamental Attribution Error
• View own actions as responses to situations
• View others’ actions as expressions of personality traits
Projection
• Freud: mechanism of defense
• Anti-social, immoral wishes & abject self-images attributed to others
• Usually to an other group: ethnic group, nation, religion, gender, “the poor,” etc.
Misunderstandings
1. Despotism & strife stem from a tribal mentality equipped with modern weapons
MENA should not be seen as having a “still-tribal” social organization
-- though underdevelopment and oppression may lead people to create tribe-like relationships
Misunderstandings
2. The “honor code” monopolizes the Middle Eastern psyche and subverts modernization
There is an “honor-modesty” ethics & social etiquette, but this does not retard modernization
Misunderstandings
3. Islamic “fatalism” breeds passivity and stalls development
An “Islamist ethic” fuels achievement and development, but when thwarted people turn to Islam for consolation
Misunderstandings
4. The momentum of tradition resists modernization
People may choose “tradition” as superior to “modernity”
People invent “traditions” to defend against “modernity”
Misunderstandings5. Terrorism springs from a vein of
fanaticism in Arab culture and psyche
Terrorism better explained by…
a) strategic considerations
b) social psychological processes that operate in all cultures
Violence can create a “culture of terror”