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~Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity~
(Described and Contrasted)
| Ethnocentrism is an aspect belonging to all cultures. It comes with belonging to one's own culture, and may bring with it a sense that one's own culture is 'right', where others may be a little or a lot "off", or "inferior". There is usually a degree of 'judgment' involved when looking at other cultures ethnocentrically. Within a culture it can be helpful with controlling abhorrent or deviant practices within a culture. It also, such as here in California, with our diverse population, can cause problems with appreciating and tolerating different cultures. In Anthropology, the term ethnocentrism would be applied if an Ethnographer were viewing another culture through his own (the Ethnographer's) culture's eyes and understanding, rather than from the other culture's conceptual basis. Cultural relativity is looking at each culture through its own conceptual basis. Participant observation is an important part of being able to gain an understanding of the conceptual basis, but not just being a participant in the behavior while drawing conclusions or judgments from the participant's own cultural viewpoint. An ethnographer's goal would be to share the cultural knowledge about a culture, not just as his/hers exotic vision, but through the eyes of the everyday normalcy, of the culture he/she's an observant/participant in. If an ethnographer views another culture ethnocentrically, he/she may see a lot that he/she views as pretty bizarre, or even at times boring. By trying to understand (conceptualize) from the other culture's point of view that culture's manifest, and trying to gain a conceptual understanding from that manifest from their point of view, only then would hopes of achieving a holistic process and results, be attempted and achieved. |
Intellectual credit and thanks to Dr. P. Claus, ethnographer and professor.
The above is paraphrased and 'gleaned' via lecture notes from a course of his I've attended.
