Cultural Relativism Ethics Lesson 4 PDF

CULTURAL RELATIVISM  CULTURAL RELATIVISM In Bolivia, 14-year-old girls can legally get married. In China, men have to wait until they're 22.  CULTURAL RELATIVISM In America, eye contact suggests that you are paying attention and interested in what a person has t...

CULTURAL RELATIVISM  CULTURAL RELATIVISM In Bolivia, 14-year-old girls can legally get married. In China, men have to wait until they're 22.  CULTURAL RELATIVISM In America, eye contact suggests that you are paying attention and interested in what a person has to say. Yet, in other cultures, eye contact can be considered rude and a challenge of authority.  HOW IS CULTURE DEFINED? Culture is the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics shared by groups of people. Culture could be based on shared ethnicity, gender, customs, values, or even objects. For example, Christmas trees can be considered ceremonial or cultural objects. They are representative in both Western religious and commercial holiday culture.  WHAT IS CULTURAL RELATIVISM? is the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. In other words, “right” and “wrong” are culture-specific  WHAT IS CULTURAL RELATIVISM? culture can also demonstrate the way a group thinks, their practices, or behavioral patterns, or their views of the world. For example, in some countries like China, it is acceptable to stare at others in public, or to stand very close to others in public spaces. In South Africa, if you board a nearly empty bus or enter a nearly empty movie theater, it is regarded as polite to sit next to the only person there.  WHAT ABOUT ETHNOCENTRISM? Ethnocentrism is the view that one particular ethnic group is somehow superior to all others. A common idiom is “tunnel vision.” In this context, ethnocentrism is the view that a particular ethnic group’s system of beliefs and values is morally superior to all others Discrimination plays a direct role in the ethnocentric belief.  WHAT ABOUT ETHNOCENTRISM? During the exploration period the discrimination against blacks by whites was a major controversial issue. In England many believed that the darker a person is the "dirtier and impure" they are. Some people believed that some races were not even races. Instead they were considered animals and not humans.  ETHNOCENTRISM Have you ever seen or eaten food from another country, such as dried squid or fried crickets and think of it as weird and gross? This is an example of ethnocentrism! That means you use your own culture as the center and evaluate other cultures based on it. You are judging, or making assumptions about the food of other countries based on your own norms, values, or beliefs.  ETHNOCENTRISM Ethnocentrism can lead to negative judgments of the behaviors of groups or societies. It can also lead to discrimination against people who are different. For example, in many countries, religious minorities (religions that are not the dominant religion) often face discrimination.  ETHNOCENTRISM There are three levels of ethnocentrism: a positive one, a negative one and an extreme negative one. The positive definition defines ethnocentrism as "the point of view that one's own way of life is to be preferred to all others". There is nothing wrong with such feelings, for "it characterizes the way most individuals feel about their own cultures, whether or not they verbalize their feeling". It is ethnocentrism that which gives people their sense of peoplehood, group identity, and place in history-all of which are valuable traits to possess.  ETHNOCENTRISM Ethnocentrism can create loyalty among the same social group or people in the same society. For example, during the World Cup or Olympics, you may tend to root for your own country and believe that the players or teams representing your country are much better. National pride is also part of ethnocentrism.  ETHNOCENTRISM Ethnocentrism becomes negative when "one's own group becomes the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it". It reaches its extreme negative form when "a more powerful group not only imposes its rule on another, but actively depreciates the things they hold to be of value“ Extreme negative ethnocentrism: example: holocaust HOW CAN ONE ELIMINATE ETHNOCENTRISM? Vincent Ruggiero suggests three important steps to take which will enable us "to penetrate deception of appearance."  "Study the cultural context in which the action occurs."  "Determine the circumstances of time, place, and condition surrounding it."  "Learn the reasoning that underlies it and the moral value it reflects."  CULTURAL RELATIVISM It is the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. In other words, “right” and “wrong” are culture-specific “Different cultures have different moral codes” often is used as a key to understanding morality. Proponents argue that there is not as universal truth in ethics; there are only the various cultural codes and nothing more  CULTURAL RELATIVISM Cultural relativism holds that "good" means what is "socially approved" by the majority in a given culture. Infanticide, for example, isn't good or bad objectively; rather it's good in a society that approves of it but bad in one that disapproves of it.  CULTURAL RELATIVISM Cultural relativists see morality as a product of culture. They think that societies disagree widely about morality and that we have no clear way to resolve the differences. They conclude that there are no objective values. Cultural relativists view themselves as tolerant; they see other cultures, not as "wrong," but as "different."  CULTURAL RELATIVISM We live in a rapidly changing world society, which is increasingly bringing people of various cultures in closer interaction with each other. This interaction can be positive or negative depending on the level of sensitivity and respect people have for other cultural groups. These two types of behaviors are related to the two important concepts examined in this presentation- ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.  CULTURAL RELATIVISM Negative attitudes towards other cultures and/or ethnic groups arise out of ethnocentrism, while positive attitudes are the result of a culturally relativist approach. If people are going to be successful in today's multicultural, information, world society, they will need to develop a culturally sensitive frame of reference and mode of operation.  CULTURAL RELATIVISM To avoid judging the cultural practices of groups that are different to yours, we can use the cultural relativism approach. Cultural relativism refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what is right or wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try to understand cultural practices of other groups in its own cultural context. For example, instead of thinking, “Fried crickets are disgusting! ” one should instead ask, “Why do some cultures eat fried insects?”. You may learn that fried crickets or grasshoppers are full of protein  CULTURAL RELATIVISM "Cultural relativism is in essence an approach to the question of the nature and role of values in culture" (Herskovits 1973). If values are shared ideals which give rise to beliefs and norms of behavior around which a group organizes its collective life and goals, cultural relativism declares that these values are relative to the cultural ambiance out of which they arise.  CULTURAL RELATIVISM Some ethicists believe that the concept of cultural relativism threatens the discipline of ethics since, if values are relative to a given culture than this must mean that there are no universal moral absolutes by which the behavior of people can be judged. Therefore, "if there is no observable control transcending all cultures, no eternal book of rules, then right and wrong are a matter of opinion and it doesn't matter what we do: anything goes!"  CULTURAL RELATIVISM Consequences of Accepting Cultural Relativism 1. We could no longer say that custom of other societies are morally inferior to others. 2. We could decide whether actions are right or wrong just by consulting the standards of our society. 3. The idea of moral progress is called into doubt Cultural relativity means, on the contrary, that the appropriateness of any positive or negative custom must be evaluated with regard to how this habit fits with other group habits. NEED TO REMEMBER: Cultural relativism does not imply that there is no system of moral values to guide human conduct Rather, it suggests that every society has its own moral code to guide members of that society, but that these values are of worth to those who live by them, though they may differ from our own Cultural relativism does not advocate individual or ethical relativism. So far anthropological and sociological studies show that no society tolerates moral or ethical anarchy. NEED TO REMEMBER: Cultural relativism leads to the understanding of the difference between absolutes and universals (morality/values) Absolutes are fixed values which are not admitted to have variation, but which differ from culture to culture, and from epoch to epoch. While universals are those values which transcend cultures, which all cultures manifest Absolutes derive from universals. While universals transcend cultures, absolutes are the way specific cultures implement absolutes in their particular societies NEED TO REMEMBER "every society... has its moral code, which carries unquestioned sanctions for its members. But once we move into another society, we find a series of values differently conceptualized, differently phrased, but having sanctions of equal force. It is therefore apparent, by extending this observation to human society in general, that while the fact that every culture has an accepted code governing attitudes and conduct which has been empirically established, the absolute worth of any one of these codes" NEED TO REMEMBER "morality is a universal, and so is enjoyment of beauty, and some standard for truth. The many forms these concepts take, however, are but products of the particular historical experience of the societies that manifest them In other words, every society has its absolutes, but not all absolutes are universals.