Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism

Despite how much humans have in common, cultural differences are far more prevalent than
cultural
universals. For example, while all cultures have language, analysis of particular language
structures and conversational etiquette reveal tremendous differences. In some Middle Eastern
cultures, it is common to stand close to others in conversation. North Americans keep more
distance, maintaining a large “personal space.” Even something as simple as eating and drinking
varies greatly from culture to culture. If your professor comes into an early morning class
holding a mug of liquid, what do you assume she is drinking? In the United States, it’s most
likely filled with coffee, not Earl Grey tea, a favorite in England, or Yak Butter tea, a staple in
Tibet.
The way cuisines vary across cultures fascinates many people. Some travelers pride themselves
on
their willingness to try unfamiliar foods, like celebrated food writer Anthony Bourdain, while
others return home expressing gratitude for their native culture’s fare. Often, Americans express
disgust at other cultures’ cuisine, thinking it’s gross to eat meat from a dog or guinea pig, for
example, while they don’t question their own habit of eating cows or pigs. Such attitudes are an
example of ethnocentrism, or evaluating and judging another culture based on how it compares
to one’s own cultural norms.
Ethnocentrism, as sociologist William Graham Sumner (1906) described the term, involves a
belief or attitude that one’s own culture is better than all others. Almost everyone is a little bit
ethnocentric. For example, Americans tend to say that people from England drive on the
“wrong” side of the road, rather than the “other” side. Someone from a country where dog meat
is standard fare might find it off-putting to see a dog in a French restaurant—not on the menu,
but as a pet and patron’s companion.

A high level of appreciation for one’s own culture can be healthy; a shared sense of community
pride, for example, connects people in a society. But ethnocentrism can lead to disdain or dislike
for other cultures, causing misunderstanding and conflict. People with the best intentions
sometimes travel to a society to “help” its people, seeing them as uneducated or backward;
essentially inferior. In reality, these travelers are guilty of cultural imperialism, the deliberate
imposition of one’s own cultural values on another culture. Europe’s colonial expansion, begun
in the 16th century, was often accompanied by a severe cultural imperialism. European
colonizers often viewed the people in the lands they colonized as uncultured savages who were
in need of European governance, dress, religion, and other cultural practices. A more modern
example of cultural imperialism may include the work of international aid agencies who
introduce agricultural methods and plant species from developed countries while overlooking
indigenous varieties and agricultural approaches that are better suited to the particular region.

Ethnocentrism can be so strong that when confronted with all the differences of a new culture,
one may experience disorientation and frustration. In sociology, we call this culture shock. A
traveler from Chicago might find the nightly silence of rural Montana unsettling, not peaceful.
An exchange student from China might be annoyed by the constant interruptions in class as other
students ask questions—a practice that is considered rude in China. Perhaps the Chicago traveler
was initially captivated with Montana’s quiet beauty and the Chinese student was originally
excited to see an American-style classroom firsthand. But as they experience unanticipated
differences from their own culture, their excitement gives way to discomfort and doubts about
how to behave appropriately in the new situation. Eventually, as people learn more about a
culture, they recover from culture shock.
Culture shock may appear because people aren’t always expecting cultural differences.
Anthropologist Ken Barger (1971) discovered this when conducting participatory observation in
an Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic. Originally from Indiana, Barger hesitated when
invited to join a local snowshoe race. He knew he’d never hold his own against these experts.
Sure enough, he finished last, to his mortification. But the tribal members congratulated him,
saying, “You really tried!” In Barger’s own culture, he had learned to value victory. To the Inuit
people, winning was enjoyable, but their culture valued survival skills essential to their
environment: how hard someone tried could mean the difference between life and death. Over
the course of his stay, Barger participated in caribou hunts, learned how to take shelter in winter
storms, and sometimes went days with little or no food to share among tribal members. Trying
hard and working together, two nonmaterial values, were indeed much more important than
winning.

During his time with the Inuit tribe, Barger learned to engage in cultural relativism. Cultural
relativism is the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards rather than viewing it
through the lens of one’s own culture. Practicing cultural relativism requires an open mind and a
willingness to consider, and even adapt to, new values and norms. However, indiscriminately
embracing everything about a new culture is not always possible. Even the most culturally
relativist people from egalitarian societies—ones in which women have political rights and
control over their own bodies—would question whether the widespread practice of female
genital mutilation in countries such as Ethiopia and Sudan should be accepted as a part of
cultural tradition. Sociologists attempting to engage in cultural relativism, then, may struggle to
reconcile aspects of their own culture with aspects of a culture they are studying.

Sometimes when people attempt to rectify feelings of ethnocentrism and develop cultural
relativism, they swing too far to the other end of the spectrum. Xenocentrism is the opposite of
ethnocentrism, and refers to the belief that another culture is superior to one’s own. (The Greek
root word xeno, pronounced “ZEE-no,” means “stranger” or “foreign guest.”) An exchange
student who goes home after a semester abroad or a sociologist who returns from the field may
find it difficult to associate with the values of their own culture after having experienced what
they deem a more upright or nobler way of living. Perhaps the greatest challenge for sociologists
studying different cultures is the matter of keeping a perspective. It is impossible for anyone to
keep all cultural biases at bay; the best we can do is strive to be aware of them. Pride in one’s
own culture doesn’t have to lead to imposing its values on others. And an appreciation for
another culture shouldn’t preclude individuals from studying it with a critical eye.

Symbols and Language

Humans, consciously and subconsciously, are always striving to make sense of their surrounding
world.
Symbols—such as gestures, signs, objects, signals, and words—help people understand the
world. Symbols provide clues to understanding experiences. They convey recognizable meanings
that are shared by societies.
The world is filled with symbols. Sports uniforms, company logos, and traffic signs are symbols.
In some cultures, a gold ring is a symbol of marriage. Some symbols are highly functional; stop
signs, for instance, provide useful instruction. As physical objects, they belong to material
culture, but because they function as symbols, they also convey nonmaterial cultural meanings.
Some symbols are only valuable in what they represent. Trophies, blue ribbons, or gold medals,
for example, serve no other purpose other than to represent accomplishments. But many objects
have both material and nonmaterial symbolic value.

A police officer’s badge and uniform are symbols of authority and law enforcement. The sight of
an officer in uniform or a squad car triggers reassurance in some citizens, and annoyance, fear, or
anger in others. It’s easy to take symbols for granted. Few people challenge or even think about
stick figure signs on the doors of public bathrooms. But those figures are more than just symbols
that tell men and women which bathrooms to use. They also uphold the value, in the United
States, that public restrooms should be gender exclusive. Even though stalls are relatively
private, most places don’t offer unisex bathrooms.
3.3 Pop Culture, Subculture, and Cultural Change
It may seem obvious that there are a multitude of cultural differences between societies in the
world. After all, we can easily see that people vary from one society to the next. It’s natural that
a young woman from rural Kenya would have a very different view of the world from an elderly
man in Mumbai—one of the most populated cities in the world. Additionally, each culture has its
own internal variations. Sometimes the differences between cultures are not nearly as large as the
differences inside cultures.
High Culture and Popular Culture
Do you prefer listening to opera or hip hop music? Do you like watching horse racing or
NASCAR? Do
you read books of poetry or celebrity magazines? In each pair, one type of entertainment is
considered high-brow and the other low-brow. Sociologists use the term high culture to describe
the cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in the highest class segments of a society. People
often associate high culture with intellectualism, political power, and prestige. In America, high
culture also tends to be associated with wealth. Events considered high culture can be expensive
and formal—attending a ballet, seeing a play, or listening to a live symphony performance.

The term popular culture refers to the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in
mainstream society. Popular culture events might include a parade, a baseball game, or the
season finale =of a TV show. Rock and pop music—“pop” short for “popular”—are part of
popular culture. In modern times, popular culture is often expressed and spread via commercial
media such as radio, television, movies, the music industry, publishers, and corporate-run
websites. Unlike high culture, popular culture is known and accessible to most people. You can
share a discussion of favorite football teams with a new coworker, or comment on “American
Idol” when making small talk in line at the grocery store. But if you tried to launch into a deep
discussion on the classical Greek play Antigone, few members of American society today would
be familiar with it.
Although high culture may be viewed as superior to popular culture, the labels of high culture
and
popular culture vary over time and place. Shakespearean plays, considered pop culture when
they were written, are now among our society’s high culture. Five hundred years from now, will
our descendants associate watching Two and a Half Men with members of the cultural elite?
Subculture and Counterculture
A subculture is just as it sounds—a smaller cultural group within a larger culture; people of a
subculture are part of the larger culture, but also share a specific identity within a smaller group.

Thousands of subcultures exist within the United States. Ethnic and racial groups share the
language, food, and customs of their heritage. Other subcultures are united by shared xperiences.
Biker culture revolves around a dedication to motorcycles. Some subcultures are formed by
members who possess traits or preferences that differ from the majority of a society’s population.
The body modification community embraces aesthetic additions to the human body, such as
tattoos, piercings, and certain forms of plastic surgery. In the United States, adolescents often
form subcultures to develop a shared youth identity. Alcoholics Anonymous offers support to
those suffering from alcoholism. But even as members of a subculture band together, they still
identify with and participate in the larger society.

Sociologists distinguish subcultures from countercultures, which are a type of subculture that
rejects some of the larger culture’s norms and values. In contrast to subcultures, which operate
relatively smoothly within the larger society, countercultures might actively defy larger society
by developing their own set of rules and norms to live by, sometimes even creating communities
that operate outside of greater society.

Cults, a word derived from culture, are also considered counterculture group. The group
“Yearning for Zion” (YFZ) in Eldorado, Texas, existed outside the mainstream, and the
limelight, until its leader was accused of statutory rape and underage marriage. The sect’s formal
norms clashed too severely to be tolerated by U.S. law, and in 2008, authorities raided the
compound, removing more than two hundred women and children from the property