Kevin O'Brien
Soc. 101 HCC JTK
7/18/12
Ethnocentrism
and Cultural Relativism
There are two kinds of studies that
people in a culture tend to follow. One study is rather harsh, while the other
study lets people, in a culture, look deeper into the context before they
adapt. These studies are simply known as ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.
Ethnocentrism is the tendency for an individual to use his/her culture as the
best culture among the rest. That individual may tend to judge what people in
other cultures may think or do. Another way to think about this term is to look
at the definition as discussed in class, “Ethnocentrism is the belief that my
culture is the standard by other cultures.” Unlike ethnocentrism, cultural relativism
is the practice where the individual looks upon a culture on its own terms. Cultural
relativism is the belief that any culture needs to be analyzed based upon its
own history and values. Instead of judging a culture in an unfair amount of
five seconds, the individual takes time to observe a culture and decide if that
culture is best for him/her.
Waris Dirie, best known for her
portrayal in the James Bond film The
Living Daylights, is a native of her country Somalia. As a little girl, she
was a victim of having her genitals mutilated in her country. The governments
of Europe are ethnocentric to say this practice is a practice in which they
believe is right for their women’s’ health. They believe that it keeps the
female “sexually clean” so they are able to marry. Dirie started a campaign in
1996 to put an end to female genital mutilation. It is necessary for other
countries to analyze the fallouts of female genital mutilation, in which the
cultural relativism takes place. According to Dirie, women are at the risk of
being mutilated “every 17 seconds.” Women who are mutilated suffer horribly
while urinating and menstruation. A European refugee directive said that women
at the risk of mutilation could be considered for refugee status. Dirie’s
experience of this torture is an example of an ethnocentric practice that is
being culturally analyzed.
I’ve had situations where I have dealt
with someone who was ethnocentric or culturally relativistic. I have a friend
named Oscar who works for his school’s radio station at Southern Connecticut
State University. He took me over to his station on my day off to watch him do
a show. After he finished, a snobby radio disc jockey came up to my friend and
criticized the music he played. Oscar was playing songs that ranged from punk
to metal. This other radio host was rather into the classic rock genre, saying
that it’s the best genre of music than anything else. Now I do enjoy classic
rock myself, but I am open to some variety. This kid was being really biased
and my friend and I were not very happy of how ethnocentric he was being to us.
My campus held a dance in memory of a
student who recently passed away, Stirling Danskin. He was into house music and
techno music. Before that night, I didn’t like house nor did I like techno
because it just seemed repetitive to me. I was working at the venue that held
the dance so I was there for the entire night. This is the night were I was
culturally enlightened. I observed how most of the people who attended the
dance were dancing and having a good time. I could tell they were good friends
of Stirling. The cultural factor behind this music is that people were rather
enjoying this music. They didn’t care if the music sounded like it was taking
songs online and mixing them together. I found myself dancing to this music by
the end of the night. I may not enjoy house or techno as a superior favorite,
but I wasn’t one to judge the quality of the music that was entertaining to the
ears. This example of cultural relativism helped me branch out in my interests
of music. For all I know, I could have been somebody like the biased DJ at
Southern and walk out of the venue.
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