Ethnocentrism Case

Chapter 2

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. A common reaction of Americans who have spent time in another country is that they believe the customs of the other countries are backward and need improvement. “Other” women are criticized for allowing themselves to live in such an oppressed state, and their traditional cultural resources are seldom recognized. In addition, there is a tendency to dichotomize cross-cultural information; if women are suppressed or brutalized in the other culture, then they must be liberated in this country, and when we ask American students to explore how the international economic system, which benefits many citizens in the United States, adversely affects women in many other countries, we find ourselves treading on sacred ground. 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 considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality exists, no one has the right to judge another society’s customs. Cultural relativism is widely accepted in modern anthropology. Cultural relativists believe that all cultures are worthy in their own right and are of equal value. Diversity of cultures, even those with conflicting moral beliefs, is not to be considered in terms of right and wrong or good and bad.

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