Cultural Anthropology
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
What is your place in the world? How
much of the world do you know?
Cultural Anthropology
•Is a social science that studies
cultures around the world
•Cultural anthropologists have to
remain objective and discourage
generalizations
•The goal of cultural anthropology is
to prevent ethnocentrism and
instead to promote cultural
relativism.
ETHNOCENTRISM
•Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's cultural group
is centrally important and superior to others
•We are ethnocentric when we use our cultural
norms to make generalizations about other peoples'
cultures and customs.
•Ethnocentrism leads to cultural misinterpretation
and it often distorts communication between human
beings.
CAN YOU THINK OF EXAMPLES?
Some very simple examples of ethnocentric thinking. ..
..
We often talk about British drivers driving "on the
wrong side" of the road. Why not just say "opposite
side" or even "left hand side"?
We talk about written Hebrew or Arabic as reading
"backward." Why not just say "from right to left" or "in
the opposite direction from English."
We consider certain types of art “naive” or “primitive”
While ethnocentric views are not necessarily intended,
they have led to major human disasters throughout
history causing
Bullying, Discrimination, Intolerance, War, Genocide….
CULTURAL RELATIVISM (C. R.)
Anthropologists promote C.R. To help understand diversity.
Cultural relativism - the principle that a person’s beliefs
and activities make sense in terms of his or her own
culture.
C.R. explains human diversity as a logical outcome of the
diverse environments in which humans live.
Therefore, everything is relative. Nothing is right or wrong.
FEMALE BEAUTY: is it a cultural universal? Why or Why not?
FE
FOOD?
SOME AIMS OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY:
•To provide objective insight into other cultures
•To help preserve valuable knowledge, cultural
practices and languages around the world
•To foster cross-cultural empathy, understanding and
collaboration
•To emphasize similarities among human cultures
and help bridge their differences and
misunderstandings