Ethnocentrism and

Cultural Relativism

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We all belong to one species. You
may have noticed that we have
different physical characteristics,
behavioral patterns, languages,
cultural patterns and
environmental conditions.
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Humans are social being. Since the dawn
of Homo sapiens around 250,000 years
ago, people formed groups or
communities in order to survive. Living
together as one in one community,
people had formed common habits and
behaviors from hunting techniques to
family fostering. 3
As each human group experiences
different environmental conditions,
cultural variations are established.

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Cultural Variation refers to the
rich diversity in social patterns
that different human group exhibit
around the world. Music, dance,
languages, cuisine, and art are
different from one culture to
another. 5
The variation in human conditions
promotes diversity in cultural
traditions. What may be
considered good practice in one
culture may be considered bad
practice in one another.
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Comparing the traditions practiced
by Muslims that pork serve in
their meals are forbidden because
it says in their Holy Quran while for
Christian community, pork is a part
of their meal.
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As people travel farther, moving
from different regions to entirely
different parts of world, certain
aspects of culture becomes
dramatically unfamiliar. What
happened when we encounter
different cultures? 8
As we interact with different
cultures other than our own, we
become aware of the differences
or diversity and commonalities
between our own and the others’
world.
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We must remember that cultural
variation or diversity do not only
occur between people’s culture
coming from different countries,
but also between people with
different practices within the same
country. 10
Comparison of one’s culture to
another reveal obvious differences
but all cultures share common
elements. Cultural Universals
are patterns or traits that are
globally common to all societies.
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One example of cultural universal
is the family unit. Every human
group recognizes family as the
building blocks of the society that
regulates sexual reproduction and
care of their children.
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Another example of cultural
universal is the language and the
concept of giving names to
member of the family.

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Variation between Cultures
Within a human group, certain
segments of the society develop
cultural patterns that differs from
the patterns of the dominant
society.
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1. Subculture is a culture that is
shared with a distinctive pattern of
mores, folkways, and values which
differ from a larger society. The
group of society who exhibit
subculture have a specific and
unique set of beliefs and values
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Example:
Cockfighting is a blood sport in
which two roosters specifically
bred for aggression are placed
beak to beak in a small ring and
encouraged to fight to the death.
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2. Counter Culture is a culture
practice by groups whose
values and norms place it at
odds with mainstream society
or a group that actively rejects
the dominant cultural values
and norms. 17
Example:
Paramilitary is a semi-militarized
force whose organizational structure,
tactics, trainings, and functions are
similar to professional military and not
included as a parts of formal armed
forces like NPA and ISIS groups.
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3. High Culture is a culture
practiced and patronized by the
upper classes of the society.
Example: watching opera,
classical music and live theater

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4. Popular Culture is a culture
practiced or patronized by the
middle and working classes of
the society. Example: Watching
soap opera over the televisions,
movies and rock concerts
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Many cultures around the world
believe that their beliefs, practices
are in fact superior to that of
others. This mentality sometime
leads to discrimination and
ostracism.
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Ethnocentrism is the regard that
one’s own culture and society is
the center of everything and seen
as the most efficient and superior
among the cultures in the world.

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A person who exhibits ethnocentrism
feels that his or her culture is correct
and appropriate as compared to other
cultures thus an ethnocentric attitude
can be a problem in understanding
each other culture and foster tensions,
misunderstanding and conflicts
between societies. 23
Ethnocentrism can be so strong
but when confronted with all of the
differences of a new culture, one
may experience culture shock.

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Culture Shock is the feeling of
disoriented, uncertain, out of place
or even fearful when immersed in
an unfamiliar culture.

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As people experience unanticipated
differences from their own culture,
their excitement gives way to
discomfort and doubts how to behave
appropriately in the new situation.
However, while people learn more
about the culture, eventually they will
recover from culture shock. 26
Culture shocks may appear because
people aren’t always expecting cultural
differences. People evaluates the
particular culture based on their own
culture which often give problems and
bias due to his or her own perspective
that his or her culture is the efficient
and appropriate for the environment. 27
When faced with plurality of
culture, one must adapt the
conceptual tool of cultural
relativism.

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Cultural Relativism is the
practice by assessing a culture by
its own standards rather that
viewing it through the lens of
one’s own culture. It is the practice
that one must understood in the
context of their locality. 29
Practicing cultural relativism
requires an open mind and a
willingness to consider, and even
adapt to, new values and norms.

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Ferraro and Andretta as mentioned by
Custodio advocate that cultural relativism
is more culturally relative approach in
understanding human group. They said
that one can build emotional resilience by
understanding one’s culture by not
necessarily mean to offend them but be
guided by their own cultural norms. 31
Advantages of Cultural
Relativism

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[Link] promotes cooperation.
Embracing the differences of the
different society can create
cooperation because it allows a
stronger bond with one another
in the society.
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2. Respect and Equality is
encouraged. People from
different culture with different
ideas that share their own
perspectives and experiences
in the society can promote
respect and equality. 34
3. It preserves human
cultures. Respect with the
diverse set of traditions, ideas
and practices would help
preserve the culture.

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4. Cultural relativism creates a
society without judgement.
Worrying and practicing your
own culture prevent
disagreement & judgement in
the society.
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Culture is evolving. New things are
added to material cultures every day
can cause cultural change.
Cultural Change is observed when
new opens up new ways of living and
when new ideas enter a culture as a
result of globalization.
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Culture is evolving. New things are
added to material cultures every day
can cause cultural change.
Cultural Change is observed when
new opens up new ways of living and
when new ideas enter a culture as a
result of globalization.
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Activity
One of the lasting issues that multicultural
countries face is racism and discrimination.
Even in the most developed countries like
United States, this issue haunts them.
If you are the president of that country,
how will you address the issue of
racism and discrimination to break
cultural barriers?
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Rubrics:
10pts - Had given 4 solutions to
address the issue of racism and
discrimination
7pts - Had given 2 solutions to
address the issue of racism and
discrimination
4pts - Had answered but irrelevant
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