Our cultural worldview influences and mends our perceptions of foreign cultures by often judging their culture relative to our own. Though many of us try to avoid it, we often subconsciously skew our perspective through our own lenses. This phenomenon is termed by sociologists as ethnocentrism, defined as “evaluating and judging another culture based on how it compares to one’s own cultural norms” (Griffiths et al., 2015, p. 54). For example, I have experienced ethnocentrism personally when I…
to Rachels “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism” Different cultures have different conceptions of right and wrong. The Eskimos, for instance, commit infanticide often, leaving their babies to die in the snow. Although we uphold the same value of caring for our offspring, an Eskimo family may be unable to care for their child and select death as their final option. In our culture this is viewed as horrific, but to the Eskimos, it is a part of life (Rachels 35). Cultural relativism says that to…
following paper I will be discussing relativism, more specifically cultural and ethical relativism and weather I agree or disagree with that philosophy. Cultural revisits state that “no particular moral or ethical position can actually be considered “right” or “wrong.” Ethical relativism states that …”whether an action is right or wrong depends on the moral norms of the society in which it is practiced”. I agree with ethical and cultural relativism because there is no right or wrong moral…
Although Peter has been trying to learn all the new norms and values of his new culture, since being taken from Earth, a specific scene where enculturation has influenced Peter’s behavior is going out and stealing the most powerful thing in the universe, the orb. Peter, after being taken from earth,…
Parekh (2000) who suggested “multiculturalism explains well how the cultural communities should relate to one another. It also prioritized that only the norms and values of different cultures within a given context cannot bring about peace and solidarity rather by creating an open and equal dialogue between the people of different cultures and backgrounds”. Therefore, the definition of dialogical multiculturalism explains the ethical norms, principles and institutional structures required for…
ethnocentrism or cultural relativism? Define both, using examples, and explain your position. Ethnocentrism is a concept developed by William Sumner in 1906. Ethnocentrism is when a “group” uses there way of doing things to judge others. There are positives and negatives to ethnocentrism. On the positive side of ethnocentrism, it creates loyalties with a group. While on the negative side ethnocentrism can lead to discrimination. Cultural relativism is a way to look at a cultural without using…
Cross-Cultural Miscues Culture can be defined using many different phrases; one way of phrasing culture is a system of shared ideas or meanings. Different parts of the world have vastly different cultures that they practice in their society. Since so many contrasting cultures are present, not everyone knows about what is acceptable in every culture. This leads to cultural “norms” being violated resulting in a cross-cultural miscue. Cross-cultural miscues happen because the actions or languages…
sense that structural assimilation involves the host society accepting a particular ethnic or minority group as it is in while identificational assimilation involves the willingness and acceptance of an ethnic group to conform to the host societies norms and values. Identificational assimilation helps to explain how minority groups develop a sense of peoplehood, which is an important stage in the assimilation of U.S. immigrants. Structural assimilation, on the other hand, helps faster adaptation…
Ethnocentrism refers to judging other cultures based on our own cultural standards. The culture which a person belongs to is centered. Other cultures rotate towards it with a sense of inferiority.Xenocentrism and culture relativism both lay at the extremities of ethnocentrism. What could an excess of each cause? Are we limited to any international standard? Is any culture prone to extinction due to any of those concepts? Are we rendering our own cultures isolated and drifting towards belonging…
Cultural relativism may be defined as a theory that advocates the idea of subjective morality. To extrapolate, this theory entails that “different cultures have differing moral codes” and these variances are merely arbitrary. Although this is a seemingly sufficient theory, there are key issues with this school of thought. James Rachels suggests several issues with accepting cultural relativism. He criticizes cultural relativism by stating that the theory is absurd as it entails severe…