In todays fast passed and globalized world it is very easy to spread and share your beliefs, which is a good thing, however when dangerous people have access to these tools it can be devastating to their targets. But why would anyone do such things as Americans we might look at groups like ISIS, Russia or anyone who is not our ally and are quick to say they are bad immoral people. As a first generation Muslim American coming from war torn country (Iraq), I was exposed to two different cultures, which often had different beliefs and ways of approaching things, and it made me question which one is right, after asking myself about these things it made me realize my life is based on both cultures and what right do I or any other person have to …show more content…
The ethnocentric stance assumes that one's own cultural worldview is superior to others but while we all believe that what we do is right that is not the problem the issue lies when ethnocentric groups abuse other groups, based on only that individuals customs, practices, and habits. Ethnocentrism consequently involves generalizations and negative thoughts about cultures and their people, and it is also a domestic issue especially in the US where different economic classes are viewed as bad, the low income classes view the wealthy as selfish and thievish by paying employees low wages for “hard” labor, contrary to that the wealthy view the lower income classes as lazy and not willing to work for what they deserve, the problem with both these notions is that neither can relate to each other, the poorer people don’t have as much access to high income jobs , and the wealthy are in charge of many parts of a company and feels obligated to keep what he earns. People should think about and be more understanding towards others even if they might seem to be purely immoral. But ethnocentrism is not as bad as it is made to be, for example a follower of a certain religion obviously believes that his religion is the right one otherwise he would not be a part of it so he tries to influence others to believe …show more content…
This is extremely important to understanding other cultures because when observing, examining, and writing on another cultures you will sound biased or even ethnocentric if you enforce your own philosophies and practices onto that culture's customs and practices. An example to help understand cultural relativism is, lets say for example a wealthy white man ins walking alone at night and then he is confronted by a African American man demanding for the wealthy mans wallet/money, at first everyone will thing that the black man is immoral and a bad person and some will even go as far to say that all African Americans are reflected by this individual, but cultural relativism makes us question what isn’t obvious perhaps the poor man is robbing a wealthy man because he has a dying daughter who needs medications but he can not afford them so he risks his innocents and robs the wealthy man because he (thinks) he knows that the wealthy mans loss is not devastating to him, now the African American does not seem as guilty as previously thought but at the same time if the wealthy white man would have fought back he wouldn’t be immoral because he is scared for his life and knows he is the primary provider for his family, both men are put in scenarios where one can say they are immoral but cultural relativism justifies the
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's ethnic group or culture is superior (Leeder, 2004). In order to gain citizenship David Aldwinkle was subject to investigation by inspectors to prove he was culturally Japanese. These investigations included interviewing his neighbors,
In Rachel’s the challenge of culture relativism. The author discusses the practice of cultural Relativism and applies it to multiple real world examples. The author is conceivably arguing for the use of cultural relativism in our societies today. Rachel starts off with an explanation that all cultures are very different from one another and; how we shouldn’t judge how other individuals live because we find our own to be perfect. The claims that he list furthers his point of the good ideas that surround the practice. He does admit however that there are things wrong with the practice.
Throughout this unit, a lot was learned about culture. Cultural Relativism is a counter of Ethnocentrism, however Ethnocentrism is countered by Ex-centricity. All of these are a way to understand and compare culture, but they are all different and unique. For example, Cultural relativism is examining each culture individually and accepting each culture as unique and not judged by the standards of another culture. On the other hand, Ethnocentrism is countered by this. This is because Ethnocentrism is evaluating another culture against the standards of your own culture, thus making your culture superior. The counter to this is Ex-centricity. Looking at a culture ex-centrically means that one makes sicen of his world by means of critical
Cultural relativism is a theory, which entails what a culture, believes is what is correct for that particular culture, each culture has different views on moral issues. For example, abortion is permissible by American culture and is tolerated by the majority of the culture. While, Catholic culture is against abortion, and is not tolerated by those who belong to the culture. Cultural relativism is a theory a lot of individuals obey when it comes to making moral decisions. What their culture believes is instilled over generations, and frequently has an enormous influence since their families with those cultural beliefs have raised them. With these beliefs, certain cultures have different answers for different moral dilemmas and at times, it is difficult to decide on a specific moral issue because the individual may belong to multiple
Cultural relativism is learning about another culture by engaging and immersing oneself into that culture. It is to experience another culture from the perspective of the people that culture belongs to. If I was a cultural anthropologist wanting to study a group of people, I would first begin by ensuring that I spend at least a year with them. It is important that when studying a group of people or a certain culture, a cultural anthropologist must stay with that group for a long period to truly experience what it is like from the people’s perspective. I would try to learn their ways and try to assimilate with the people to learn what it is like to be part of that culture first hand. I would try to understand and speak their language, eat
The struggle to balance our many diversities with unity and, at least some tolerance and cooperation, has been one long battle between mankind and itself. Often, it seems almost eternal, a flame that cannot be extinguished unless all its kindling is dunked in some eye-opening truth and acceptance. Today, as much as any other day in history we experience these acts against each other: as impactful as Russia and Ukraine or the conflicts between Israeli and Palestinian people or as silly as Brazil and Argentina’s famous football rivalry. More industrialized countries/societies, particularly western societies, can obtain a certain superiority complex. Ethnocentrism plays a role in this; in a large amount of cases the “inferior cultures” lacked something like stronger military forces and technological advances, or even a disadvantage caused by the local geography that was dubbed weaker than their opponents.
In his “Of Headhunters and Soldiers”, Renato Rosaldo makes a vivid distinction between cultural relativism and ethical relativism from his own personal experience. According to Rosaldo, cultural relativism focuses on human differences and the acquisition and adherence to one’s culture after birth. He references Ruth Benedict and further expands on the notion that all cultures are equally valid and that patterns of life cannot be scale down into grades (excellent, good, medium, below medium). Next, Rosaldo defines ethical relativism as a subset of cultural relativism pertaining to moral aspects of various cultural practices. The adoption of ethical relativism will hinder one’s ability to critically assess right versus wrong and good versus
After analyzing cultural relativism over the semester, I have come to the conclusion that cultural relativism under anthropological analysis defines every single culture with some aspect of worth as viewed by an individual within that society. Franz Boas, termed the “Father of American Anthropology”, first introduced the concept of cultural relativism. He wanted people to understand the way certain cultures conditioned people to interact with the world around them, which created a necessity to understand the culture being studied. In my words, cultural relativism is the concept that cultures should be viewed from the people among that culture. When studied by anthropologists, cultural relativism is employed to give all cultures an equal
Second, The Cultural Relativism Theory views that all beliefs and customs are relative to the individual within his or her own social context, The theory is about the nature of morality(). For example, It was believed that the Greeks thought it was wrong to eat the dead, However the Callatians believed it was okay to eat the dead. In that case no one can really judge the Greeks or the Callatians it is not right nor is it wrong to eat the dead that is matter of opinion(). These distinct arguments are examples of one fundamental idea(). There is no objective truth and it is a simple point of logic we all live in different socities and we all have different cultural backgrounds. When one culture ...
With cultural relativism, events in our lifetime would be stable and consistent. There would be no room for things to improve due to the fact we may think everything is as it should be. Just as Rachel's had mentioned previously, we can take into account slavery. (Sher, 155) There would be no progression in regards to the abolishment of slavery if we adhered to Cultural Relativism as a set standard. We would accept slavery as the way things are, we would hold this view that we could not voice our own opinion as we should “respect,” other cultures. Rachel’s also makes an important point stating there is actually less disagreement than it seems when it comes to Cultural Relativism. (Sher, 174) In summary, he explains that our disagreement between other cultures needs to be looked more into. The actions of an individual from another culture needs to be looked in at a different perspective. He uses people who refuse to eat cows as an example. Are we judging them because they don’t want to eat an animal? Or do they not want to eat an animal because they believe there is a form of reincarnation involved? Rachels says this is not too far from our beliefs in where for example, some believe in going to heaven. When comparing ourselves to them, we are valuing the same things but show it in different
Culture Relativism; what is it? Culture Relativism states that we cannot absolute say what is right and what is wrong because it all depends in the society we live in. James Rachels however, does not believe that we cannot absolute know that there is no right and wrong for the mere reason that cultures are different. Rachels as well believes that “certain basic values are common to all cultures.” I agree with Rachels in that culture relativism cannot assure us that there is no knowledge of what is right or wrong. I believe that different cultures must know what is right and what is wrong to do. Cultures are said to be different but if we look at them closely we can actually find that they are not so much different from one’s own culture. Religion for example is a right given to us and that many cultures around the world practices. Of course there are different types of religion but they all are worshipped and practice among the different culture.
Cultural Relativism has an entirely separate meaning. Because this idea defines moral principles as being rooted in the beliefs of a particular culture, it identifies right and wrong in terms of the practices of a specific group of people. For example, the Greeks would burn the bodies of their deceased members. However, the Callations would eat the bodies of their deceased. Assuming that Cultural Relativism is correct means viewing each of these practices as right for the respective culture. In the Greek culture, they say that burning bodies is how to treat the dead so this is right for their culture. On the other hand, the Callations say that eating bodies is the proper way to handle those that have passed on. Because the Callations say this is right, it is right for their culture. The same thought process holds true for practices that are seen as wrong in cultures. For example, the Japanese believe that laughing during business meetings is inappropriate. This is wrong because of Japan’s practices. Cultural Relativism makes moral assessments based on one culture’s
In explaining Cultural Relativism, it is useful to compare and contrast it with Ethical Relativism. Cultural Relativism is a theory about morality focused on the concept that matters of custom and ethics are not universal in nature but rather are culture specific. Each culture evolves its own unique moral code, separate and apart from any other. Ethical Relativism is also a theory of morality with a view of ethics similarly engaged in understanding how morality comes to be culturally defined. However, the formulation is quite different in that from a wide range of human habits, individual opinions drive the culture toward distinguishing normal “good” habits from abnormal “bad” habits. The takeaway is that both theories share the guiding principle that morality is bounded by culture or society.
Ethnocentrism causes people to make judgments about people or groups using their own "superior" culture or way of life as the base measurement. Ethnocentrism breeds prejudice and discrimination. It prevents a person from learning about different people and cultures. It promotes closed mind thinking and promotes "us" versus "them" mentality. There is a large portion of the United States right now practicing ethnocentrism. They are denouncing anyone who does not worship God. They are fighting against immigration, LGBT community, and Muslims because their beliefs go against their culture. They believe immigrants and LGBT are not worthy of the right to live in the United States, and anyone who does live in the United States must assimilate
Ethnocentrism, as stated above, means the belief that one’s own culture is above and beyond all other cultures. Although this is somewhat of a shallow definition, it still provides an adequate explanation of a very complex issue. We see ethnocentrism every single day, in all aspects of life. The United States of America is a prime example of ethnocentrism is action. The people of this country have a tendency to disregard other cultures, instead believing that American culture is the only way to go. This is not to say that this is how everyone thinks, although most people, at one time or another, have had thoughts along these lines.