CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN ATTAINING CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING UNDERSTANDING CULTURE,

SOCIETY AND POLITICS

LESSON 3

IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN ATTAINING CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING What’s In

CULTURE IS EVERYTHING. It is what the person has, does, and thinks as a part of society. It Implies all
belief system, set of behavior and material possessions. (Truzo and Diamal,2017) Have you ever traveled
outside the Philippines? If so, describe one cultural difference you remember from the country you
visited? Have you ever traveled within the country to a different region (e.g., urban versus rural, or
another part of the country) from the one in which you grew up? If so, describe one cultural difference
you remember in the region you visited. Do you share the concern of many sociologists over biological
explanations of behavior? Why or why not? In this lesson you are going to analyze how important is
cultural relativism, social differences, and social changes in a society. In doing so, your views and
understanding will broaden on how people are united and coexist together despite many differences. At
the end of this lesson, you are expected to be able to explain the importance of cultural relativism in
attaining cultural understanding in examining societal change. Through the series of prepared activities,
you could enhance your capabilities in coping with real life situations.

What Is It PICTURE TALK.

Study the picture below after which answer the question that follows.

1. What does the picture talks about?

____________________________________________________________________

2. How many languages can you speak and understand? _______________

3. Do you appreciate other languages aside from your own spoken language? ________

Why? ____________________________________

LET’S DISCUSS. ETHNOCENTRISM and CULTURAL RELATIVISM. For you to deepen your understanding of
the lesson let’s start your journey of discussion. Despite how much humans have in common, cultural
differences are far more prevalent than cultural universals. For example, while all cultures have
languages, analysis of particular language structures and conversational etiquette reveal tremendous
differences. In some Middle Eastern cultures, it is common to stand close to others in conversation.
North Americans keep more distance and maintain a larger “personal space.” Even something as simple
as eating and drinking varies greatly from culture to culture. If your professor comes into an early
morning class holding a mug of liquid, what do you assume she is drinking? In the United States, the
mug is most likely filled with coffee, not Earl Grey tea, a favorite in England, or Yak Butter tea, a staple in
Tibet. The way cuisines vary across cultures fascinates many people. Some travelers pride themselves on
their willingness to try unfamiliar foods, like 7 celebrated food writer Anthony Bourdain, while others
return home expressing gratitude for their native culture’s fare. Often, people in the United States
express disgust at other cultures’ cuisine and think that it’s gross to eat meat from a dog or guinea pig,
for example, while they don’t question their own habit of eating cows or pigs. Such attitudes are an
example of ethnocentrism, or evaluating and judging another culture based on how it compares to one’s
own cultural norms. A high level of appreciation for one’s own culture can be healthy; a shared sense of
community pride, for example, connects people in a society. But ethnocentrism can lead to disdain or
dislike for other cultures and could cause misunderstanding and conflict. People with the best intentions
sometimes travel to a society to “help” its people, because they see them as uneducated or backward—
essentially inferior.

KEY POINTS

• Ethnocentrism: often entails the belief that one’s own race or ethnic group is the most important or
that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups; the tendency to look at the
world primarily from the perspective of one’s own culture. Within this ideology, individuals will judge
other groups in relation to their own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to
language, behavior, customs, and religion.

• Xenocentrism: one’s exposure to cultural practices of others may make one to give preferences to the
ideas, lifestyle and products of other cultures

• Cultural relativism: is the belief that the concepts and values of a culture cannot be fully translated
into, or fully understood in, other languages; that a specific cultural artifact (e.g., a ritual) has to be
understood in terms of the larger symbolic system of which it is a part.

• Cultural relativism: is the principle that an individual person’s beliefs and activities should be
understood by others in terms of that individual’s own culture.

THREE (3) IDEAS OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM:

a. moral relativism

b. situational relativism

c. cognitive relativism

Cultural relativism is a principle that was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz
Boas in the first few decades of the twentieth century, and later popularized by his students. Boas first
articulated the idea in 1887: “…civilization is not something absolute, but… is relative, and… our ideas
and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes.”

• Culture Shock: an experience of personal disorientation when confronted with an unfamiliar way of
life
 • Cultural Imperialism: the deliberate imposition of one’s own cultural values on another culture 8
Ethnocentrism, a term coined by William Graham Sumner, is the tendency to see and evaluate other
cultures in terms of one’s own race, nation, or culture.

This rests on the belief of the superiority of one’s own culture or ethnic group compared to others which
leads to making incorrect assumptions about others’ behavior based on your own norms, values, and
beliefs. For instance, reluctance or aversion to trying another culture’s cuisine is ethnocentric. While
societies have the tendency to display or manifest certain amount of ethnocentrism, cultural sensitivity
is also expected especially if one is a visitor. Non-sensitivity to cultural practices of other groups may be
misinterpreted and this may lead to conflict with others or maybe seen by others as a rude behavior
especially when articulated or expressed in front of others.

Learning to take the role of the other person gives one the ability to see the perspective of the other
people articulating or giving judgment. To do this, it is important:

(1) study the cultural context in which the action occurs,

(2) determine the circumstances of place, time and condition surrounding it,

(3) look into the reasoning behind any cultural element.

A good example of ethnocentrism is referring to parts of Asia as the “Far East.” One might question, “Far
east of where?” An example of ethnocentrism in culture is the Asian cultures across all the countries of
Asia. Throughout Asia, the way of eating is to use chopsticks with every meal. These people may find it
unnecessary to find that people in other societies, such as the American society, eat using forks, spoons,
knives, etc. Since these countries use chopsticks to eat every meal, they find it foolish for other cultures
to not use utensils similar to chopsticks; however, they do accept the fact that they use different utensils
for eating. This example is not something extreme that could lead to genocide or war, but it is a large
enough gap between these cultures for people to see their way of eating as the natural or best way to
typically eat their food.

Ethnocentrism can be so strong that when confronted with all of the differences of a new culture, one
may experience disorientation and frustration. In sociology, we call this culture shock. A traveler from
Chicago might find the nightly silence of rural Montana unsettling, not peaceful. An exchange student
from China might be annoyed by the constant interruptions in class as other students ask questions—a
practice that is considered rude in China. Perhaps the Chicago traveler was initially captivated by
Montana’s quiet beauty and the Chinese student was originally excited to see a U.S.-style classroom
firsthand. But as they experience unanticipated differences from their own culture, their excitement
gives way to discomfort and doubts about how to behave appropriately in the new situation. Eventually,
as people learn more about a culture and adapt to its norms, they recover from culture shock.

Culture shock may appear because people aren’t always expecting cultural differences. Anthropologist
Ken Barger (1971) discovered this when 9 he conducted a participatory observation in an Inuit
community in the Canadian Arctic. Originally from Indiana, Barger hesitated when invited to join a local
snowshoe race. He knew he’d never hold his own against these experts. Sure enough, he finished last, to
his mortification. But the tribal members congratulated him, saying, “You really tried!” In Barger’s own
culture, he had learned to value victory. To the Inuit people, winning was enjoyable, but their culture
valued survival skills essential to their environment: how hard someone tried could mean the difference
between life and death. Over the course of his stay, Barger participated in caribou hunts, learned how to
take shelter in winter storms, and sometimes went days with little or no food to share among tribal
members. Trying hard and working together, two non-material values, were indeed much more
important than winning.

OVERCOMING CULTURE SHOCK, an example During her summer vacation, Caitlin flew from Chicago to
Madrid to visit Maria, the exchange student she’d befriended the previous semester. In the airport, she
heard rapid, musical Spanish being spoken all around her. Exciting as it was, she felt isolated and
disconnected. Maria’s mother kissed Caitlin on both cheeks when she greeted her. Her imposing father
kept his distance. Caitlin was half asleep by the time supper was served—at 10 p.m.! Maria’s family sat
at the table for hours, speaking loudly, gesturing, and arguing about politics, a taboo dinner subject in
Caitlin’s house. They served wine and toasted their honored guest. Caitlin had trouble interpreting her
hosts’ facial expressions, and didn’t realize she should make the next toast. That night, Caitlin crawled
into a strange bed, wishing she hadn’t come. She missed her home and felt overwhelmed by the new
customs, language, and surroundings. She’d studied Spanish in school for years—why hadn’t it prepared
her for this? What Caitlin hadn’t realized was that people depend not only on spoken words but also on
subtle cues like gestures and facial expressions, to communicate. Cultural norms accompany even the
smallest nonverbal signals (DuBois 1951). They help people know when to shake hands, where to sit,
how to converse, and even when to laugh. We relate to others through a shared set of cultural norms,
and ordinarily, we take them for granted. For this reason, culture shock is often associated with traveling
abroad, although it can happen in one’s own country, state, or even hometown. Anthropologist Kalervo
Oberg (1960) is credited with first coining the term “culture shock.” In his studies, Oberg found that
most people found encountering a new culture to be exciting at first. But bit by bit, they became
stressed by interacting with people from a different culture who spoke another language and used
different regional expressions. There was new food to digest, new daily schedules to follow, and new
rules of etiquette to learn. Living with these constant adaptive challenges can make people feel
incompetent and insecure. People react to frustration in a new culture, Oberg found, by initially
rejecting it and glorifying one’s own culture. An American 10 visiting Italy might long for a “real” pizza or
complain about the unsafe driving habits of Italians compared to people in the United States. It helps to
remember that culture is learned. Everyone is ethnocentric to an extent, and identifying with one’s own
country is natural. Caitlin’s shock was minor compared to that of her friends Dayar and Mahlika, a
Turkish couple living in married student housing on campus. And it was nothing like that of her
classmate Sanai. Sanai had been forced to flee war-torn Bosnia with her family when she was fifteen.
After two weeks in Spain, Caitlin had developed a bit more compassion and understanding for what
those people had gone through. She understood that adjusting to a new culture takes time. It can take
weeks or months to recover from culture shock, and it can take years to fully adjust to living in a new
culture. By the end of Caitlin’s trip, she’d made new lifelong friends. She’d stepped out of her comfort
zone. She’d learned a lot about Spain, but she’d also discovered a lot about herself and her own culture.
Reluctance or aversion to trying another culture’s cuisine is ethnocentric. Social scientists strive to treat
cultural differences as neither inferior nor superior. That way, they can understand their research topics
within the appropriate cultural context and examine their own biases and assumptions at the same
time. This approach is known as “cultural relativism.” Cultural relativism is the principle that an
individual person’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual’s
own culture. A key component of cultural relativism is the concept that nobody, not even researchers,
comes from a neutral position. The way to deal with our own assumptions is not to pretend that they
don’t exist but rather to acknowledge them, and then use the awareness that we are not neutral to
inform our conclusions. An example of cultural relativism might include slang words from specific
languages (and even from particular dialects within a language). For instance, the word “tranquilo” in
Spanish translates directly to “calm” in English. However, it can be used in many more ways than just as
an adjective (e.g., the seas are calm). Tranquilo can be a command or suggestion encouraging another to
calm down. It can also be used to ease tensions in an argument (e.g., everyone relaxes) or to indicate a
degree of self-composure (e.g., I’m calm). There is not a clear English translation of the word, and in
order to fully comprehend its many possible uses, a cultural relativist would argue that it would be
necessary to fully immerse oneself in cultures where the word is used.

The Cross-Cultural Relationship is the idea that people from different cultures can have relationships
that acknowledge, respect and begin to understand each other’s diverse lives. People with different
backgrounds can help each other see possibilities that they never thought were there because of
limitations, or cultural proscriptions, posed by their own traditions. 11 Traditional practices in certain
cultures can restrict opportunity because they are “wrong” according to one specific culture. Becoming
aware of these new possibilities will ultimately change the people that are exposed to the new ideas.
This cross-cultural relationship provides hope that new opportunities will be discovered but at the same
time it is threatening. The threat is that once the relationship occurs, one can no longer claim that any
single culture is the absolute truth. Cultural relativism is the ability to understand a culture on its own
terms and not to make judgments using the standards of one’s own culture. The goal of this is to
promote understanding of cultural practices that are not typically part of one’s own culture. Using the
perspective of cultural relativism leads to the view that no one culture is superior than another culture
when compared to systems of morality, law, politics, etc. It is a concept that cultural norms and values
derive their meaning within a specific social context. This is also based on the idea that there is no
absolute standard of good or evil, therefore every decision and judgment of what is right and wrong is
individually decided in each society. The concept of cultural relativism also means that any opinion on
ethics is subject to the perspective of each person within their particular culture. Overall, there is no
right or wrong ethical system. In a holistic understanding of the term cultural relativism, it tries to
promote the understanding of cultural practices that are unfamiliar to other cultures such as eating
insects, genocides or genital cutting. There are two different categories of cultural relativism: Absolute:
Everything that happens within a culture must and should not be questioned by outsiders. The extreme
example of absolute cultural relativism would be the Nazi party’s point of view justifying the Holocaust.
Critical: Creates questions about cultural practices in terms of who is accepting them and why. Critical
cultural relativism also recognizes power relationships. Absolute cultural relativism is displayed in many
cultures, especially Africa, that practice female genital cutting. This procedure refers to the partial or
total removal of the external female genitalia or any other trauma to the female reproductive/genital
organs. By allowing this procedure to happen, females are considered women and then are able to be
married. FGC is practiced mainly because of culture, religion and tradition. Outside cultures such as the
United States look down upon FGC, but are unable to stop this practice from happening because it is
protected by its culture
Cultural relativism can be seen with the Chinese culture and their process of feet binding. Foot binding
was to stop the growth of the foot and make them smaller. The process often began between four and
seven years old. A ten-foot bandage would be wrapped around the foot forcing the toes to go under the
foot. It caused the big toe to be closer to the heel causing the foot to bow. In China, small feet were
seen as beautiful and a symbol of status. The women wanted their feet to be “three-inch golden
lotuses”. It was also the only way to marry into money. Because men only wanted women with small
feet, even after this practice was banned in 1912, women still continued to do it. To Western cultures
the idea of feet binding might seems torturous, but for the Chinese culture it was a symbol of beauty
that has been ingrained the culture for hundreds of years. The idea of beauty differs from culture to
culture. Understanding the concepts of ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, cultural imperialism, culture
shock helps you to analyze and understand the current trends in the society particularly in the
community you belong where people are no longer fully one custom-identity. Our communities today is
a composite of cross-cultural groups of people.
What’s More Activity 1 THE DIFFERENCE.

Study the table of comparison between Ethnocentrism versus Cultural Relativism.

Activity 3

Study the following comic strips, consider if cultural relativism is shown and if cultural understanding is
attained.