ANT 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Cultural Relativism, Cultural Universal, Ethnocentrism
Document Summary
Anthropology: study of humans in all times and all places. Humans use symbols as the basis of culture while linguistic can be considered one thing that represents any other thing. National culture: experiences, beliefs, learned behavior patterns, and values shared by citizens of the same nation. International culture: cultural practices common to an identifiable group extending beyond the boundaries of one culture. Subcultures: identifiable cultural patterns existing within a larger culture. Ethnocentrism: use of values, ideals, and mores from one"s own culture to judge the behavior of someone from another culture. Contributes to social solidarity (in this way it"s somewhat positive) Causes us to be shocked/disgusted at attitudes about other animals in different cultures e. g. different cultures" attitudes towards dogs. Cultural relativism: cultural values are arbitrary values of one culture should not be used as standards to evaluate behavior of people outside the culture. Can be obtained (through recognizing our on cultural constraints?)
