3.3. Critical Engagement with Societal and Global Issues. Readings

What is critical thinking?

Obviously, this competence is valuable for lecturers who need to be able to advocate their ideas and opinions and use them in their lectures.

What Is ethnocentrism? Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to view one’s own cultural group - whether local, regional, national, or transnational - as superior or more "normal" than others. It involves interpreting and judging other cultures through the lens of one’s own values, beliefs, and norms. This overvaluation of one's own cultural background can lead to misunderstandings, prejudice, and exclusion of those who are perceived as "different." In higher education, recognizing and challenging ethnocentric attitudes is essential for promoting intercultural understanding, equity, and respectful engagement with diversity.

The very concept of development - and the classification of countries along a scale from “underdeveloped” to “developed” - is highly reductive and reveals ethnocentric assumptions. This concept reflects a Western worldview that claims universal ambition, often imposing its own values, economic models, and social norms as benchmarks for all societies. Such a perspective overlooks the diversity of historical trajectories, cultural values, and alternative forms of well-being present around the world. Recognizing this ethnocentrism is essential for educators seeking to foster critical thinking and a more pluralistic understanding of global realities.

Although it inevitably oversimplifies the complex reality of the world, the division between the Global North and Global South has proven to be less ethnocentric. This framework moves away from hierarchical and value-laden categorizations, instead highlighting geopolitical, economic, and historical dynamics without necessarily imposing a universal standard. There is the need to embrace critical framework of social transformation by breaking away from the normative assumptions and biases embedded in the concept of development—which is often viewed as a ‘Western’ rhetoric of progress that reinforces hierarchical and reductionist views of the world. The proposal is to develop and highlight multiple, interconnected ways of understanding the world - called “pluriversal” and “interversal” paths - that challenge the idea of a single, all-encompassing perspective from which concepts like “universal” and “global” are usually seen.

How do stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination occur?

Our attitudes towards “others” can be determined by three factors: the cognitive, which implies a belief (stereotypes), the affective, which implies emotions and feelings (prejudices), and the behavioural, implying concrete actions (discrimination). The concept of stereotypes was first introduced in the 1920s by Walter Lippmann in his influential work Public Opinion (1922). Lippmann described stereotypes as “pictures in our heads” - mental images that individuals create and apply to entire groups of people. These images act as filters or distortions, shaping how we perceive others and often stand between us and the complexity of reality.

Stereotypes are not neutral: they reflect biases and generalizations that can lead to misunderstandings, discrimination, and exclusion. In intercultural contexts, being aware of our own stereotypes - and actively questioning them - is essential for fostering respectful and authentic interactions. Prejudices are unjustified and mostly negative attitudes towards “others”. Prejudices represent an affective dimension of our attitudes. They include emotions and feelings that can take the form of dislike, mistrust, fear, or even hatred, although more ambivalent and even positive prejudices can also exist.

The real problem with stereotypes and prejudices is their potential to influence our attitudes and behaviours toward other people. They can have very negative consequences such as discrimination, and unjustified and negative behaviour towards members of groups based on their membership. Schools represent a critical space when it comes to generating or reducing stereotypes and prejudices. They have the potential to trigger change in social norms and promote certain values and attitudes. However, developing strategies and pedagogical methods to overcome rather than reinforce social, ethnic, or cultural segregation takes considerable effort. With the rise of social media and the great diversification of information sources, people have direct access to a large amount of unverified information and opinions. Consequently, subjective comments and opinion are taken to be the truth and of equal (or greater) value than other more robust sources. Social media are indeed a perfect vehicle to spread and multiply prejudices and rumours.

What is an antirumours strategy?

This strategy is defined on the website of the Intercultural Cities Programme of the Council of Europe (https://www.coe.int/en/web/interculturalcities/module-1-why-an-antirumours-strategy-) The programme draws an antirumours strategy as a long-term process of social change. The antirumours strategy focuses on the way stereotypes and prejudice are created and above all on how to reduce them, or at least reduce their negative impact, to prevent discrimination, improve coexistence, and harness the potential of diversity by triggering a change in perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours among the general population and specific target groups. To reach these global goals, the antirumours strategy focuses on three specific objectives:

• To engage and empower a wide range of stakeholders and citizens by implementing a local public policy and building a cooperative multi-level social platform within the framework of a long-term “antirumours city strategy”.

• To promote critical thinking and raise awareness of the negative effects of stereotypes, prejudices, and false rumours by implementing innovative and participative actions to reduce them and challenging the negative narratives around diversity.

• To influence the political and social agenda so that reducing prejudices and preventing discrimination is recognised as a crucial collective goal for society.