I. ETHNOCENTRIC STATES
(assuming worldview of one’s own culture is central to all reality)

A. Denial of Difference (strategy: ignore it & maybe it will go away)

1. Isolation prevents recognition of cultural difference: no conceptual categories for cultural difference; not experienced at all; if confronted, cultural difference is overlooked through selective perception.

Partial isolation may embed cultural difference in very broad categories.

2. Separation does acknowledge difference, and intentionally erects social (discrimination) and/or physical (ghettoes) barriers to create distance from the culturally different: may attribute culturally "deviant" behavior to deficiency in intellect or personality; tendency to dehumanize culturally different others/outsiders

B. Defense Against Difference (recognize cultural difference and perceive as threatening to one’s sense of reality and, hence, one’s identity; fight differences to preserve absoluteness of one’s worldview)

1. Denigration evaluate negatively most variations from one’s own group, negative stereotyping; the greater the difference, the more negative the evaluation

I. CONDITION OF "UNBELIEVABILITY"
(cannot accept the culturally different as fully human, or cultural diversity as "normal" to human experience)

1. Tendency to "homogenize" (overgeneralize and contain) significant differences within and among the culturally diverse into broad categories.

2.. "Tourist" or "voyeur" perspectives toward superficial differences developed from excursions, vicarious (e.g., National Geographic) or actual, among the culturally different; holds oneself apart and untouched, and tends to "exoticize" the culturally different as bizarre, irrational, essentially unbelievable.

3. Tendency to deny any basic human similarities between oneself and culturally different others.

4. Culture conflict situations make one aware of significant cultural differences, but with little understanding of or desire to know the other; contact produces frustration, seems "irrational."

5. Myths, stereotypes, erroneous beliefs, prejudices shape perception of culturally different others in negative ways.

a. holds an evolutionary view of cultural development with one’s own group at the acme of the human hierarchy;

b. cultural difference may be viewed as temporary, something to be overcome: may be "tolerated" but not perceived as "viable."

3. Reversal (an occasional, but not inevitable oppositional strategy): tendency to see another culture as superior, while maligning one’s own; in terms of the meaning attached to difference, this stage is only a kind of reverse ethnocentrism.

*M.Bennett believes Stages A & B must be passed before a strong emphasis on cultural difference in training can be effective; otherwise the intent of such an emphasis can backfire.

C. Minimization of Difference (last attempt to preserve centrality of one’s own worldview by burying differences under the weight of similarity)

a. Cultural difference is trivialized and superficial differences (e.g., eating customs) are accepted, while holding that all human beings are essentially the same

b. Tendency to define the basis of human commonality in ethnocentric terms (everyone is essentially like us/like me):

1. Physical Universalism posits commonality in terms of physiological similarity (all eat, procreate, and die) and less evaluative; e.g., innatist views that all human behaviors are elaborations of fundamental human biology, using one’s own cultural worldview to interpret the perceived behaviors and failing to address the culturally unique social/historical contexts of such behaviors.

2. Transcendent Universalism human commonality is posited on the basis of human subordination to a particular supernatural being, religion, or social philosophy (e.g., Marxism): all are products of a single transcendent principle, law, or imperative; compared to other

7. Tendency to "romanticize" or idealize the culturally different as superior to one’s own culture; selective traits are emphasized to denigrate one’s own culture, enabled by a "homogenizing" view, based on incomplete and inaccurate contextual knowledge, of the other culture in its full particularity.

8. Ethnocentric "universalizing" tendencies that project "like us/like me" readings of/on culturally different others; this tendency is facilitated by:

a. "homogenizing" (overgeneralizing or erasing) culturally-particular difference between and among groups;

b. ignorance of the specific histories, cultures, and regions which shape significant differences among groups, and little exposure to serious comparative historical or cultural study;

c. lack of awareness of or denial of one’s own ethnocentrism, and the operations of one’s cultural worldview and perceptual filters in interpreting and distorting one’s view of culturally different others;

d. tendency to imaginatively "identify" or "empathize" with culturally different others, but selectively, overlooking or failing to "see" differences which confuse or resist one’s efforts to universalize the other; instead, emphasizes accessible characteristics that seem familiar and projects "meaning" based on one’s own values and experiences.

a. may tend toward social-cultural proselytizing of "underdeveloped" cultures, or aggressive conversion activities with attention to cultural difference to facilitate conversion

b. tendency to believe there is a single truth or best way, and with sufficient "education" all will discover this for themselves; one need only be one’s true self to communicate, for deep down all are the same. [Impediment to development since one can "get by" at this stage]

II. ETHNORELATIVE STATES
(MAJOR CONCEPTUAL SHIFT needed to understand cultures relative to each other and that one’s own culture is no more central than any other. But M. Bennett does not interpret "ethnorelative" as ethical agreement with all difference; rather ethical choices will be made on grounds other than ethnocentric protection of one’s own worldview or absolute principles)

A. Acceptance of Difference (nonevaluative, accept as appropriately different; see cultural diversity as necessary & preferable human condition)

1. Respect for Behavioral Differences: begin to see different behaviors (e.g., communication styles, nonverbal behaviors) as indicative of profound cultural differences, not just permutations of "universal"-ethnocentric "laws"

2. Respect for Value Differences: acknowledge as viable alternative solutions to the organization of human existence as expressed in a particular cultural context; recognize one’s own worldview as a relative cultural construct (attain cultural self-awareness) and our role in dynamic process of assigning value

a. can negatively evaluate (e.g., "offending differences" such as sexism) but not from an ethnocentric perspective; sees "offending differences" as ways to cope with reality/a part of the culture’s overall organization of the world

(Next stage: practical applications of "ethnorelative" acceptance)

1. ask for & receive help;
2. adapt to new ideas;
3. empathize
4. feel sense of responsibility for others;
5. be patient with/tolerant of ambiguity;
6. accept other cultural views as valid;
7. approach other cultures without being judgmental;
8. develop shared perceptions of common problems & their best solutions

II. CONDITION OF "BELIEVABILITY"
(MAJOR CONCEPTUAL SHIFT needed to accept the culturally different as fully human and cultural diversity as "normal" and valued human experience)

1. Serious intellectual curiosity is activated; study of other cultures and peoples viewed as intrinsically interesting, valuable

2. Intellectual/experiential awareness, analysis of significant cultural difference as believable, cognitively possible
a. Rejects "homogenizing" tendencies--convenient, harmful, inaccurate cognitive overgeneralizations the deemphasize significant cultural, regional, historical differences
b. Informed about particular cultural, historical, regional contexts that shape others’ and one’s own cultures differently, especially through comparative study; draws serious research and multidisciplinary perspectives, knowledge, methods to achieve more complete, accurate view of different cultures and peoples
c. Correct myths, stereotypes associated with the culturally different; awareness of the historical & ideological roots of racism and other discriminatory behaviors in the U.S. and the world

3. Accept cultural diversity as "normal" & cultural differences as positive multiple forms of expertise and problem-solving.

4. Recognize one’s own distinct cultural identity and worldview are not "universal" across cultures, but only one among many; recognize ethnocentric tendencies & perceptual filters shape (and distort) all people’s views of their own and others’ cultures.

1. Empathy: ethnorelative imaginative participation in a different cultural worldview, used effectively for frame of reference shifting to understand and be understood across cultural boundaries - i.e.to create common meaning essential to intercultural communication
(Bennett distinguishes "empathy" from "sympathy" defined as ethnocentric imagining of how one would feel in another’s position through shift in circumstance but not through true shift in cultural frame of reference); different worldview is still "outside" self.

a. Potential problems with "intentional empathy": shift is temporary; may have difficulty dealing with disagreement if assume all cultural diversity is inherently "good"; or "mutual empathy" when the culturally different, attempting to communicate, may both shift at once;

b. "natural empathy" (vs. "intentional empathy") theorized as "pluralistic" people’s predisposition to empathize with differences already embedded in their worldviews; such "natural empathy" may be more powerful tool of intercultural communication than is "intentional empathy"

2. Pluralism: internalize bi-cultural or multi-cultural frames of reference &

[Transition into "Intercultural competence" skill building:]
1. Able to "imaginatively participate" in others’ culturally different worlds on their own terms; perspective-taking or imaginative identification with the culturally different tends to produce "informed empathy,"exercise connected"/empathetic feeling & thinking with the culturally different; one moves into "transpection": the ability to imagine oneself in a role within the context of a different culture; develop "Inter-cultural competence"

2. Experience with, & willingness to engage in, cross-cultural encounters that challenge one’s own cultural assumptions and make explicit the specific operations of one’s own culturally-shaped "preferences" and perceptions in coloring interpretation of the culturally different; seeks the self-knowledge these encounters reveal

3. Develop culturally diverse perspectives that enable one to interpret intercultural encounters more accurately and prepare one to serve as a communication link across cultures; & that enable one to

a. "developmental" pluralism state is marked by increase in cultural adaptability beyond empathy state, through conscious assumption of "ethnorelativism" developed by progress through earlier states of emerging "intercultural sensitivity"

b. "restricted biculturality": two or more complete cultural frames of reference have been internalized such that cultural difference/diversity is experienced as part of one’s normal self: thus, "pluralism" state may be a development beyond "empathy" state in that respect for cultural diversity equals respect for self

C. Integration of Difference (orientation and worldview transcends one’s indigenous culture; sense of self integrates multiple cultural frames of reference & one is capable of acting outside the constraints of any single culture as a part of & apart from a given cultural context)

1. Contextual Evaluation movement beyond "liberal quagmire" where all choices among alternative perspectives seem equally good; aware that cultures do not include mechanisms that encourage people to transcend them; confronts difficulty of assuming total responsibility for one’s own identity; ability to analyze & evaluate situations from one or more chosen cultural perspectives, through perspective shifting & cultural self-awareness; allows for ethical choice & action in culturally diverse world as implied by "ethnorelative" identity-aware of different cultures’ conflicting evaluations of a given phenomenon;-can judge relative goodness/rightness specific to some identified context

2. Constructive Marginality maintain an identity definition that is "marginal" to any culture: ie. no "natural" identity (no unquestioned assumptions or absolute right behaviors) for a "marginal" person; "outsider" marginality becomes a constructive base for applying intercultural sensitivity --can operate outside normal cultural boundaries as a cultural mediator with "dynamic in-betweenness" (vs. "unhealthy" outsider status); struggles conscientiously with total integration of "ethnorelative" stage and experience oneself as the constant creator of one’s own reality

4. Repeated exposure to cross-cultural issues and opportunities to engage in serious cross-cultural dialogue in positive, mutually respectiful and safe environments increase one’s intercultural sensitivity, fluency, receptivity, and competence, especially in arenas of conflicting cultural claims, values, and loyalties

5. Seek grounds for asserting human unity based on deeper, cross-culturally well-informed, contextualized, and reciprocal understanding of trans-cultural similarities, amid global human diversity, especially as a basis for cooperative social action

6. Develop competent intercultural "social action" skills: can act as a facilitator and catalyst for contact between cultures; can identify problems and issues, accept shared responsibility for resolving them, work cooperatively with culturally diverse others to solve common problems, gather relevant data, investigate alternatives, combat stereotyping and discrimination, clarify values on issues, articulate and negotiate just criteria for evaluation, make cross-culturally sound decisions and choices, take reflective action to help resolve problems and issues, and accept responsibility for social action and its consequences

7. Recognize one need not always reject one’s cultural identity--pre-existing complex layers and intersections of multiple "micro/macro-cultural identities, values, and loyalties--to develop intercultural competence and social action skills needed to function in a different cultural milieu and/or cooperate with culturally different others to solve shared problems in the world community-recognition that cultural identities are interculturally (re)constructed at sites of interaction & dialogue

8. The "choice"to become "intercultural" or "multicultural," however, should be informed by willingness to engage in serious, reciprocal inquiry into the sources and consequences of cross-cultural conflict, at sites of "enunciation," learning, and change--a process of negotiation that may force one to re-evaluate, modify, compromise or radically change; a process of becoming a new kind of person interculturally defined/enunciated at the site of negotiation.