Often, people tend to look at other people’s cultural practices as being odd or out of the norm. This is a very common reaction when trying to study and understand the different cultures around the world. Many people are taught a set of beliefs and practices from a very young age that will stick with them for their whole lives and even be passed on to the generations after them. Cultural relativism is when one looks at their own culture from an outsider’s point of view and another culture from an insider’s point of view. Looking from an insider’s perspective is known as the emic perspective. This perspective helps people understand another culture from an insider’s point of view while giving them the opportunity to eliminate any biases they
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The etic perspective will help interpret my own culture from an outsider’s point of view. An article that helps as a guide to understanding culture from different perspectives is the article Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Miner (1956). In this article, he describes the culture and practices of the Nacirema, which is American spelled backwards. While reading this article some might notice that the practices sound familiar but may not be able to put a finger on why. Looking at culture from an etic perspective provides understanding and shows how caught up one can be with thinking that their culture is the norm. Looking at American culture from an etic perspective shows that other cultures find American practices just as different and odd as Americans would find their practices if they are not aware of the meaning and the actual culture behind …show more content…
Gender is starting to be known as socially constructed and in American culture people are becoming more aware. This means that now, it is becoming more acceptable to be a working mother or even be married to another male or female. In American culture, there is now becoming no such thing as the “norm” to most people because of the idea that gender is socially, not biologically
The etic perspective will help interpret my own culture from an outsider’s point of view. An article that helps as a guide to understanding culture from different perspectives is the article Body Ritual Among the Nacirema by Miner (1956). In this article, he describes the culture and practices of the Nacirema, which is American spelled backwards. While reading this article some might notice that the practices sound familiar but may not be able to put a finger on why. Looking at culture from an etic perspective provides understanding and shows how caught up one can be with thinking that their culture is the norm. Looking at American culture from an etic perspective shows that other cultures find American practices just as different and odd as Americans would find their practices if they are not aware of the meaning and the actual culture behind …show more content…
Gender is starting to be known as socially constructed and in American culture people are becoming more aware. This means that now, it is becoming more acceptable to be a working mother or even be married to another male or female. In American culture, there is now becoming no such thing as the “norm” to most people because of the idea that gender is socially, not biologically