SSD2 Module 4 Notes Essay

Ethnocentrism is defined as the tendency to judge other people and cultures by the standards of one’s own culture and to believe that the behavior, customs, norms, values and other characteristics of one’s own group are natural, valid, and correct while those of other’s are unnatural, invalid and incorrect. For example, in Funny in Farsi Firoozeh experiences ethnocentrism from citizens here

43). For example, in high school I hung out with the so called “popular” kids and they would always act stuck up like they were too good for everyone else. However,being in a PLUR culture I see being “popular” as being everyone's friend. This was ethnocentric to me because to me I thought you were popular by how many friends you had not by how much money you had. On the other hand, cultural relativism, means putting yourself in another person’s shoes and trying to “understand a culture on its own terms” (p.44). I would say I practice cultural relativism all the time because to me it’s something that interests me. I like the whole study of the brain and society. Before arguing I do take in consideration of what the other person have to say before explaining my point of

Culture is the aquired knowledge that people use to interpret, experience, and generate social behavior.

Cultural relativism is the way society separates right from wrong within a culture. What we describe as “good” and “bad” is based off of our cultural beliefs. Cultural relativism argues that no culture is better than any other and all their beliefs are equally valid. The way that modern society is has made it possible for almost everything to be justified.

Culture is defined as “The ideas, attitudes, customs, beliefs, values and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society that are passed on from generation to generation” (Brentnall, A., n.d.).

resulting from contact with a new culture and the feelings of loss, confusion and impotence,

The principle that an individual person’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others regarding their own individual culture is cultural relativism. Researched by Franz Boas and later popularized by his students in the 20th century. The concept that civilization is not absolute but, relative. And that our ideas and concepts are true only so far as our civilization goes. Cultural relativism is the idea that all beliefs, norms and values are dependent on their cultural context and should be treated as such (Boundless.com, 2015).

Cultural relativism is the idea that people’s values and customs must be understood in terms of culture of which they are a part of. Every culture is different, we are taught to act a certain, and we are all raised to believe in

Culture is a way of life. It can be defined as a group of people linked by geographical location, ethnicity, gender or age. Culture can be reflected through language, clothing, food, behavior, spirituality and traditions. The behavioral patterns developed through culture are difficult to change.

Culture is everything that is made, learned, or shared by the members of a society, including values, beliefs, behaviors, and material objects.

Culture is believed to be a shared system of attitudes, values, beliefs and behavior. Hofstede (2003) culture is learned not inherited. It is shaped by parents, relatives, teachers, friends, and the society. Culture is the second of three levels of uniqueness in human mental programming after the level of human nature, which is common to all human beings. The third level is an individual′s personality, which is not shared with other members of the group but is unique to one person. A shock is a sudden and disturbing impression on the mind or feeling, usually one produced by some unwelcome occurrence or perception, by pain, grief, or violent emotion, and tending to occasion lasting depression or loss of composure, in weak sense, a thrill or start of surprise, or of suddenly excited feeling of any kind.

Culture shock is a reaction to having a lack of experience in how to function within a culture. When experiencing culture shock, and trying to learn new customs and languages, it is important for one to be humble, relax, and let the natives help with the learning process. Avoiding the new culture is counterproductive, and will never lead to overcoming culture shock.

The basic idea of cultural relativism is to understand the different cultures of the world by observing it through the viewpoint of the people who are part of that specific culture.

Culture shock is very important concept to understand. Over the years many researchers have tried and to redefine the term to make it very specific to when someone experiences culture shock. The feeling of loss of your own culture and moving to another, and the sense of starting over. This comes to a hurtful surprise to many who travel. When you go to strange or new places you almost lose the power of communication, world views and systems change

1) What is the difference between cultural relatively and ethnocentrism? What is an example of a behavior showcasing each?