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Experiences With Ethnocentrism
Essay of ethnocentrism
Cultural relativist theories
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Recommended: Experiences With Ethnocentrism
Bronislaw Malinowski was a British anthropologist. He is known as the father of the functionalist school of anthropology. In addition Malinowski is known for his role in developing the methods and the primacy of anthropological fieldwork. (nndb.com) Malinowski set the model for fieldwork. He had a long term study that was at least a year. Malinowski did not invent fieldwork by himself. Yet, all of his careful studies and genius observations he had made, popularized and revolutionized the importance of fieldwork. (nndb.com) nndb.com stated that “Malinowski vigorously emphasized the importance of immersing oneself deeply in the indigenous language or languages.” Malinowski studied the people he lived with personally. The value of studying not only what tribal members said about their religious beliefs, sexual practices, marriage customs, or trade relation ships but also measuring what tribal members did in their everyday life and how things played out was extremely important to Malinowski. Overall Malinowski had many theories and methologies along with many lectures and writings.(nndb.com) 3.) What was Franz Boas’ critique of the ‘science of race’? Describe his critique and provide at least TWO arguments of his about how ‘race’ …show more content…
For example, if you see someone dressed to a fashion style you don’t like and that is different than yours, you automatically judge them for it which is an example of ethnocentrism. According to the textbook, cultural relativism is “understanding a groups beliefs and practices within their own cultural context, without making judgements.” (Guest,
Cultural Relativism is a moral theory which states that due to the vastly differing cultural norms held by people across the globe, morality cannot be judged objectively, and must instead be judged subjectively through the lense of an individuals own cultural norms. Because it is obvious that there are many different beliefs that are held by people around the world, cultural relativism can easily be seen as answer to the question of how to accurately and fairly judge the cultural morality of others, by not doing so at all. However Cultural Relativism is a lazy way to avoid the difficult task of evaluating one’s own values and weighing them against the values of other cultures. Many Cultural Relativist might abstain from making moral judgments about other cultures based on an assumed lack of understanding of other cultures, but I would argue that they do no favors to the cultures of others by assuming them to be so firmly ‘other’ that they would be unable to comprehend their moral decisions. Cultural Relativism as a moral theory fails to allow for critical thoughts on the nature of morality and encourages the stagnation
The findings of sociologist Max Weber and anthropologist Franz Boas allow Omi and Winant to support theories of race as a social construct. Weber did not subscribe to race being the cause of social conflict but instead saw political factors and agendas as the driving force behind racial conflict. Boaz rejected scientific racism based on the connection of race and culture and the belief of higher and lower racial groups. Because race is
Ethnocentrism is defined as the process of ignoring other cultures, and specifically focusing on the culture one is accustomed to.
The Growth and Development of Ideas on Race Without examining the past, our views today would be shallow and misleading. In making comparisons it is important to look at aspects of history to provide a more in depth understanding of certain social phenomenon. As comparisons are made, ideas emerge which can raise our levels of such understanding. In this way, by examining the meaning of race two hundred years ago, we can discover that the concept of ‘race’ has evolved; it has changed over time and remains ever changing. Concepts like ‘race’ demand us to study broader social structures and their interaction with smaller social life; in order to do this, we must understand history.
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
This concept is called Ethnocentrism. To define it, it is quite simply when one overlooks different cultures and compares them to their own culture.
Race, in the common understanding, draws upon differences not only of skin color and physical attributes but also of language, nationality, and religion. Race categories are often used as ethnic intensifiers, with the aim of justifying the exploitation of one group by another. Race is an idea that has become so fixed in American society that there is no room for open-mindedness when challenging the idea of racial categories. Over the years there has been a drastic change with the way the term "race" is used by scientists. Essentially, there is a major difference between the biological and sociological views of race.
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
Ethnocentrism by definition is the “evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of
Ethnocentrism can be defined as an individual’s belief that the ethnic group or cultural they identify with is superior to all others. “The ethnocentric person judges other groups and other cultures by the standards of his or her own group” (Schaefer 34).
Ethnocentrism is when one culture judge’s another culture by the standard of their own (Health, 2001). Stereotypes, biases, and prejudices against other people are all in a sense a form of ethnocentrism (Astle, Barton, Johnson, & Mill, 2014). It is okay to be proud of your own culture, but you need to remember to do so in such a way, that you are not putting down any other culture (Arnold, 2016).
We create bias toward our culture and form an idea that one's own culture is the main standard to evaluate another group leading to view. They make the measuring stick. This means that people believe and feel in the superiority of one's own ethnic culture over other cultures. This behavior is known as ethnocentrism. This concept was created amongst different nations earlier than cultural relativism, which has to be devised to counter ethnocentrism.
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.
Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism are two contrasting terms that are displayed by different people all over the world. Simply put, ethnocentrism is defined as “judging other groups from the perspective of one’s own cultural point of view.” Cultural relativism, on the other hand, is defined as “the view that all beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is relative, depending on the situation, environment, and individual.” Each of these ideas has found its way into the minds of people worldwide. The difficult part is attempting to understand why an individual portrays one or the other. It is a question that anthropologists have been asking themselves for years.
Many theories attempt to explain ethical standards and how certain cultures perceive these standards or practices. When explaining certain ethical standards Cultural Relativism is an failed illogical theory for many reasons. Cultural Relativism is a theory that attempts to explain an idea that no culture is superior to any other culture and that all people’s perspectives are biased by their own cultural background. Generally, it is the opinion that all cultures are of equal value and equality to each other, therefore, there is no one culture is inferior to any other.