• Anthropology has been called “the most
humane of the sciences and the most
scientific of the humanities”
• Wide range of approaches that span:
• Science (hypothesis, observation, and testing)
• Humanities (more subjective, based on feeling)
• Anthropology as a social science is empirical –
based on observations rather than on intuition or
faith
• Fieldwork (being on location and fully
immersed in another way of
life) is a core methodological
aspect of anthropology.
 ETHNOGRAPHY
• means “culture writing”
• provides a first-hand, detailed description of a living culture
• based on first-hand fieldwork and research of one culture
• The systematic description of a particular culture based
on firsthand observation.
 ETHNOLOGY
• the study of one topic in more than one culture
• marriage forms, economic practices, religion, etc.
• comparative and cross-cultural
• uses ethnographic material collected by a number of researchers
• Anthropology focus on cultural relativism rather than
ethnocentrism
• Cultural relativism is the belief that each culture must be
understood in terms of its own values and beliefs and not by
the standards of another culture
• Is the opposite of ethnocentrism
• The belief that no culture is better than any other culture
• Is gained by exposure to “other” ways with a sympathetic eye and
ear to appreciating differences
• Anthropology focus on cultural relativism rather than
ethnocentrism
• Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures by the standards of
one’s own culture rather than the standards of other cultures
• The belief that one’s own culture is the way of life and that other ways of
life are strange and inferior
• Absolute cultural relativism says that whatever goes
on in a particular culture must not be questioned or
change because it would be ethnocentric to question any
behavior or idea anywhere.
 Star Trek’s “Prime Directive”?
 No one shall interfere with
the culture/cultural evolution
of another planet under any
conditions
 What are some challenges
of absolute cultural
relativism?
• Critical cultural relativism is an alternative to
absolute cultural relativism
 Critical cultural relativism says that some of what goes on
in a particular culture can be questioned or changed because of
an idea of a set of universal human rights.
 What are some challenges of critical cultural relativism?