CULTURE, ETHNOCENTRISM AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Culture

“Culture is everything which is socially learned and shared by the

members of a society,” or “an organized system of norms and values which
people hold.” It gives standards of proper conduct. Culture is received as part of
social heritage. It is changed by people and passed on to succeeding
generations. Material culture cannot exist without nonmaterial one. Destroyed
material culture can be reconstructed. E.g. damages brought about by World
War II were temporary as damaged cities were rebuilt.
Culture is a way of coping with the environment. It helps us to survive by
adjusting to it. Humans are fragile and still they are able to live in very hostile
environments and even fly. On the other hand each culture provides us with
patterns harmful to health. People smoke and drink alcohol, eat white bread,
produce dangerous weapons, deform their bodies to look good, and destroy the
environment. In India widows were to be burned with their dead husbands.
Culture can be good or bad for us. It can impose upon us cumbersome and
impractical ways. However, without culture we would not have been able to
achieve so much.

Culture is organized. The smallest unit of culture is a trait.

Examples of traits are a nail, or a screwdriver (material culture), shaking hands,
or kissing (nonmaterial culture). Dance is a collection of traits. The culture
complex lies between the trait and the institution. An institution can be regarded
as a series of complexes. E.g. the family includes the dating complex, the
honeymoon complex, and the child-care complex.

“Society is a continuing number of people living in a specific area who

are relatively organized, self-sufficient, and independent and share a common
culture.” Continuing refers to permanence of the society. Organized means
systematization and structure to the pattern of social interaction. Culture means
an integrated system of behavior with its supporting ideas and values. There are
social (the majority of interactions of a society occurs within a particular area)
and geographical (a river or a mountain) boundaries that separate societies. Each
society is unique which means that there are particular habits and traditions that
make it different from other societies.
Nowadays no society is totally separated from the outside world.
However, it can still be distinguished from other societies. Political groups,
professional organizations or social clubs do not constitute a society. They are
parts of a society. Each society has its social structure. The term refers to the
ways people relate to each other.
Culture consists of mostly values and norms, symbols, rituals

Values are underlying rules governing a society which are derived mostly from
religion. Most important values refer to protecting life.

Norms

Norms can be defined as shared behavioral standards. They describe the

way we should behave in a particular situation. Thanks to norms we can predict
the behavior of other people in a given situation and act accordingly. Norms are
created in the process of social interaction. While interacting people realize that
certain ways of behaving are acceptable whereas other ways of behaving are not
acceptable. Norms are based on values. Values are general opinions and beliefs.
They encompass such terms as patriotism, progress, or democracy. Norms refer
to specific rules in a particular situation whereas values are more general.
Norms can be written laws or informal agreements. The examples of
norms are customs, superstitions and myths. E.g. the number 13 or a year of
Hinoeuma in Japan. Life would be impossible without norms. We would loose a
sense of stability and security.

Types of norms
Different norms carry different sanctions. Thanks to sanctions we can determine
the strength of various norms. Sanction is the punishment the reward for
violation of a norm or norm performance. The most important norms are called
mores. They are connected with strong punishment in case of violation. The
examples of mores are as follows: the ban on killing people and eating their
flesh, or the condemnation of sexual intercourses with one’s parents. Mores can
be traditional norms or written law. Mores may include food taboos ( cattle, or
hog unfit to eat), modest taboos (exposure of the face, or the breast), or language
taboos (ban on use obscene words). Although taboos are very important to their
believers, they may have no connection with group welfare. Breaking taboos
may not be harmful to the community but it is still condemned. Certain taboos
are very important for the survival of a given community. E.g. it is forbidden to
kill a fellow member of that community. Mores are the result of customary
practices. Usually they do not stem from a conscious choice. Mores are
internalized which makes committing a forbidden act very difficult. The threat
of legal punishment may force people to conform to existing mores. In other
words law can reinforce mores. Mores slowly change which is an adaptation to
changing circumstances. E.g. change of beliefs resulted in ending the burning of
witches. In our rapidly changing world rapid decisions concerning legislation
are often made.
 Mores from different cultures may seem strange to us but they represent
real right and wrong for people belonging to other cultures. E.g. Kurtachi eat in
private and defecate in public. Buganda men are fully clothed, whereas their
women may go naked. Even within a given culture mores change in the course
of time. During the Reformation even decent people supported burning heretics
at stake as it was regarded as normal at that time.
Less obligatory norms are called folkways. In this case sanctions are
milder which means that a person who does not abide by folkways will not be
banished from the society. Common folkways include shaking hands with
people or wearing suitable clothes for an occasion. It is necessary to make a
distinction between an ideal and a statistical norm. The former refers to what
people agree should be done, whereas the latter refers to what people really do.
According to statistical norms we should not cheat on exams, or have
extramarital sexual intercourses. However, in reality a lot of people break these
rules. In many cases there is a discrepancy between talk and action. In some
cultures people choose to elope instead of marrying in a traditional way as
traditional marriage is very expensive and cumbersome. Real and ideal patterns
are part of each culture. They are transmitted by gossip and advice (informal
communication).

Norm conflict
Nowadays society consists of many different groups. The problem is that
each group creates its own set of norms due to different interests, viewpoints and
motivations. As a result, in each society there are many conflicting norms (norm
conflict arises).
Some sections of the society fight prostitution, whereas others defend it.
The same applies to abortion and the use of drugs. Car users demand cheap and
reliable cars, but car manufacturers concentrate on lowering costs.
The law is based on mores. In certain situations the law may not reflect
the mores of society. In such cases people tend to break the law and abide by the
mores. The prohibition laws in The US failed as they did not reflect the mores of
the people.

Other cultures other norms

Normal behavior varies from country to country. It is the result of the fact
that each culture creates a set of rules which are to be obeyed if a person wants
to be regarded as normal. Even male and female behavior is not innate. In
certain cultures women can behave in a masculine way and in other cultures
men can be feminine. In Africa green is the color of disease and in Japan white
symbolizes death. In Southeast Asia black teeth are a sign of prestige.
 Culture is a “set of learned and shared beliefs, customs, skills, habits,
traditions and knowledge common to the members of a society.” Culture can be
regarded as the social heritage of a society, whereas society is “an organized,
independent, continuing number of people living in a specific area.” Landis, p.
75. Culture is learned thanks to the socialization process. The socialization
process consists in learning and internalizing the norms and roles of the culture
in which somebody lives. We divide culture into material and nonmaterial one.
The first term refers to concrete things ( house, car), whereas the second one
signifies abstract creations (customs, values, beliefs, laws).
Culture forms personality and temperament. It also decides about our
lifestyle. Members of some cultures are self-controlled which means formality,
sobriety and attachment to tradition. In other cultures the loss of self control is
strived for. Some cultures are individualistic, whereas others prefer collective
approach. There are many differences in personality characteristics between
countries belonging to the same culture. E.g. people from Nordic countries have
a sense of social responsibility and identify with the group. The French tend to
be much more individualistic. Americans have a high heart-attack rate as they
are very competitive. Japanese are much less likely to have a heart-attack for
they accept their place in society.

Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism

Ethnocentrism assumes that my culture’s ways are right and other cultures
are wrong if they are different from my culture. This prejudice may result in
demeaning other cultures, or regarding them as inferior. Therefore, Europeans
might think that non-Christians are barbarians, or eating human flesh is
uncivilized. Cannibalism is connected with the belief that killed enemy’s powers
and craft can be acquired by eating his flesh. Ethnocentrism has some
advantages for it fosters group solidarity, loyalty and patriotism, and morale.
Ethnocentric groups survive better than tolerant groups. The survival of a culture
depends on ethnocentrism to a degree. It gives a sense of belonging to the group
Ethnocentrism characterizes churches, insurance companies, and colleges. It is a
common human reaction. No individual, or group is free of it. The less educated
and the well-educated are equally affected. The striking thing is that even
scientists are not free from ethnocentrism. Very often they subconsciously
support their own sex, social class, or culture. Ethnocentrism is a defense against
our own problems and weaknesses. Ethnocentrism acts against culture change
and it does not matter whether the change would help or disrupt the culture. In
other words, ethnocentrism may promote culture stability and group survival or
cause collapse of the group.
According to cultural relativism each culture should be judged from its
own point of view. We can use such terms as right or wrong within a culture.
Therefore, having more than one wife is normal in the Arab world, whereas it is
punishable in the West. We are not entitled to criticize Arab ways. Eskimo rules
demand that an injury committed upon a kinsman should be avenged. Therefore,
in certain situation killing a men without court ruling can be justified. This sort
of action seems unacceptable to us but for an honorable Eskimo taking the law
into his own hands is the only thing he could do in such situation. In this
particular situation seeking revenge cannot be condemned if one takes into
account the rules of cultural relativism. In our culture a pregnancy before
marriage is a serious problem for a girl. Her chances of finding a husband
diminish substantially. However, Bontocs of the Phillipines regard a pregnant
girl as more marriageable for her fertility has been proven. In some hunting
societies being fat is good as it enables survival during periods of hunger. In
Western culture it the opposite. Being slim means health and attractiveness.
According to cultural relativism “function and meaning of a trait are relative to
its cultural setting.” Horton, Hunt p. 77. Certain traits are right ina particular
setting as they work in that setting.
Xenocentrism refers to the conviction that foreign and exotic is better than
our own and familiar. The glamour of the strange is appealing.

Subculture and counterculture

Within large societies there are smaller groups which are separated and
distinct from the rest of society. Such groups are called subcultures. Subcultures
have many characteristics of the main culture, but they also differ in terms of
beliefs, interests, values, and specific customs. These groups have to have some
permanence and are often at odds with the rest of society. E.g. the Amish in
America, or a terrorist group in the Middle East would qualify as subcultures.
Subcultures face a dilemma how to retain their identity in the face of a dominant
and often hostile culture. Each individual lives within a certain subculture
(occupational, religious, or regional)
Countercultures are characterized by opposition to the values and norms
of the dominant culture. Countercultures are subcultures. Counterculture does
not reject all the norms of the dominant culture. E.g. drug dealers sometimes
help impoverished friends.