The terms "ethnocentrism" and "xenophobia" are important to understand when immersing yourself in a new culture; the two concepts go hand in hand. Ethnocentrism refers to the views of other cultures based off of the traditions and customs of one's own culture, whereas xenophobia refers to the intense dislike and fear of people from a culture different of their own. It has been said that xenophobia has long been in the evolutionary processes of humans, allowing them to reject potential threat from other groups, but is now seen as an irrational response in modern day. Fear is learned from perceptual experience like all other emotions, so to face the fear of a new culture one must understand how these insiders and outsiders interact and maintain their lives through their perceptual experience.
             In recent years, the world as a whole has gone through some drastic changes, as well as on a smaller scale culturally. The term globalization has come up within this time referring to the process of human integration and whether it has had a more positive or negative impact on our societies. However, many argue that recent globalization has led to more acts of polarization and hybridization, the separation or division of community than anything else. For example, slavery was part of the American norm for the first 86 years of U.S. history, and for many years following, there were no guaranteed civil rights for African Americans. The acts following the ban of slavery were inconsistent with the belief that whites and African Americans deserved equal rights. The problem here was that we were pushing America towards a resolution instead of dealing with it in a more rational way. Debate still goes on today about racial equality and affirmative action. The pressure for consistency between cultures shows us the powerful forces behind these actions. So it is easy to assume that the goal of perfect globalization may never be achieved.
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