Culture Case

Topic#2 - Section 2825

Group #7

The sociological term for "Ethnocentrism is the practice of judging all other cultures by one's own culture" (Kendall, p.62). "Humans use their own culture as a watermark for what other cultures should be like, an assumption that (Kendall, p.62), "one's own way of life is superior to all others" (Kendall, p.62). For example, "The school song, the pledge to the flag, and the national anthem are forms of positive ethnocentrism" (Kendall, p.62). However, "constant emphasis on the superiority of one's own group can result in negative ethnocentrism"(Kendall, p.62). "Negative ethnocentrism, manifest in derogatory stereotypes that ridicule customs, habits, and beliefs that are markedly different from the dominant-group members" (Kendall, p.62).

An alternate concept to ethnocentrism is culture relativism, "the belief that behaviors and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the culture's own standards" (Kendall, p.62). Considering, "the study by anthropologist Marvin Harris, he used cultural relativism to explain why in India, cattle are viewed as sacred" (Kendall, p.62). The fact that "the Hindu taboo against killing cattle is very important to their economic system, live cows have value, they have more important uses than as a direct source of food" (Kendall, p.62). Though, there is a negative aspect to cultural relativism. "It may be used to excuse customs and behavior (such as cannibalism) that may violate basic human rights" (Kendall, p.62). Therefore, the concepts of cultural relativism and ethnocentrism "according to some social scientist, cultural relativism and ethnocentrism may become less distinct as people around the globe share common pop culture" (Kendall, p.62).

As a final point, the game of baseball, demonstrates global share of pop culture. Sociologically distinctive variations exist among American and Japanese culture. "Americans judge fairness by rules and procedure, if the rules are fair and everyone plays by them and everyone has an equal chance then, the outcome must be fair" (Video). In contrast, the groupthink of "Japanese, equate fairness by the outcome itself "(Video). "Did everyone participate; everyone benefits; everyone get a fair share" (Video)?