 |
j
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism (2)If being ethnocentric means (and it does) that a person is culturally insensitive and close-minded, cultural relativism is the polar opposite. Cultural relativism is the belief that a culture's values, beliefs, and practices must be understood (and evaluated) within the context of that particular culture. Cultural relativists would say that values derived from the social and historical experience of one culture can not be used cross-culturally to evaluate another culture. The rationale for the belief in cultural relativism is simple. Each of us is born into a specific culture, and we are taught from infancy that certain beliefs and behaviors are not only normal, but correct. Those brought up in the United States, for example are for the most part only exposed to monogamous marriages, where one man is married to one woman. Americans are taught to believe that this is the only workable marriage form. They are taught that this is the only legal marriage form. They are normally taught that this is the only marriage form sanctioned by the Christian God. Our entire socialization or enculturation process leads Americans to believe that monogamy is the best marriage form. However, this is hardly an objective or detached evaluation of marriage; it is simply what we have been taught. To make value judgments based on our own enculturation is neither objective nor scientific. If we had been born in Muslim Pakistan, or among any of the cultures which we will be exploring in some depth such as the San, the Yanomamo, the Nuer, or the Hmong , we would undoubtedly have a different view. Equally important, cultural relativism opens the possibility to actual understanding of a different culture. Since that is the goal of cultural anthropology, cultural relativism is the attitude that an ethnographer should strive to put into practice. Cultural relativism requires that the ethnographer do the following:
Cultural relativism requires the ethnographer to be able to "take the role of the other", to view the world as a member of that culture, what in anthropology is called the emic perspective. It also requires the ethnographer to understand objectively the culture and its practices, since studying cultural context, time, place, history, and reflected values are not things members of a culture normally do. This objective understanding is what is meant by an etic perspective. Emic and etic will be discussed in the next lesson. Many Americans, for example make very little effort to actually understand the cultural and historical context of the decision of the woman below to dress in a burka. It is much easier to practice ethnocentrism than cultural relativism.
Pakistani Woman in Burka Is the woman above wrong to wear a burka? Would her religion or her country be wrong to require her to dress this way? (Actually neither Islam nor Pakistan make any such requirement.) If she had what Americans might think of as a "free choice", would it be wrong for her to choose the burka? A cultural anthropologist would simply look at the action, put it into its cultural context, and would attempt to understand it, not judge it. Each culture has to be evaluated on the basis of its own cultural norms and values, not on those of another culture. It does not mean that "anything goes", since each culture has its own norms, its own moral values. Are there universal moral values or universal human rights? That is a question that is outside the scope of this course, but the sources cited at the bottom of this page might be a good place to start if you are interested in this question. For some, "human rights" are at least in part, an ethnocentric invention of the West. For those people and cultures, attempts by the US to spread what we consider universal human rights are viewed as additional examples of Western imperialism. For others, human rights are unquestionably universal, and are often violated by traditional cultural values in some countries; therefore, those countries need to change. For a brief introduction that partially represents these two views you could consult the ThinkQuest article Universalism vrs Cultural Relativism, and the United Nations viewpoint in The Challenge of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity. (These two sites are optional, but very relevant!) For source of quotes, and more detail on this issue, consult "The Concept of Cultural Relativism in a Multicultural World", by Caleb Rosado, the pdf file linked in the previous lesson. |
