ABSTRACT
In 1993, the late Samuel Huntington advanced a claim that the bipolarized world of the latter twentieth century would yield inexorably to clashes among civilizations. The Huntington thesis holds that diverse civilizations are marked by core symbolic complexes that ultimately stand in irreducible conflict. This claim draws support from three truths. First, ever since William Graham Sumner provided the language to say so, social scientists have affirmed that all human groups manifest ethnocentrism. Second, as systematic studies on the matter have shown the more complex and technologically advanced a society is, the stronger its level of ethnocentrism is likely to be. Third, ethnocentric beliefs become fortified when intertwined with imperatives that stem from strong cultural mandates. In contrast to a notion of open communication as mutual aggression or harmonious consensus, dialogue signifies a type of discourse in which parties take turns listening respectfully and responding genuinely to one another's expressions.
