Culture, like society, could be defined in many different ways. The word “culture” came from the Latin word “cultus” which means “to care”, and from the French word “colere” which means “to till” as in “ground-tilling”. Culture, in the early days, was used to describe lands that are cultivated, grown, and made under controlled conditions. Thus, culture meant the process of making something stable and ready for growth. People in the present time, however, define culture as a compilation of attributes and actions that make up society. It is somehow related to the early definition in a way that when somebody says that a community is cultured, it means that that person sees that particular community as an established society, independent to its …show more content…
that they were understandable only in specific cultural contexts”. While Tylor focused on culture being attained at a certain evolutionary stage in life, “the only way to have culture is to be cultured”, Boas believed that culture (no matter how similar it may seem in different societies) does not have the same roots and causes. He even pointed out in his 1887 article, “Museums of Ethnology and Classification”, that “though like causes have like effects, like effects have not like causes.” He was also the one who coined the term “cultural relativism”, the view that all beliefs, customs and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. Meaning, what is considered morally correct in one society may be considered immoral in another. The concept of what is right and wrong is specific to a particular society. For example, in the Netherlands, prostitution is legal and accepted by the society.. whereas in the Philippines, it is still considered as an illegal and immoral activity. Cultural relativism basically suggests that no culture must be judged since there is no universal standard and every society has their own set of …show more content…
This argument is mainly based on Albert Bandura’s Social Cognition Theory. Although this theory was mostly developed for the educational field (mainly focused on the learning of students and efficiency of teachers), it also happens to deal with social interaction and its relationship to learning. It basically emphasizes the principle that learning and understanding happens in social environments and that what is learned mostly comes from observation. For example, girl A, despite not having the same experience with girl B, can still be able to understand, describe, and somehow interpret girl B’s experience through an interaction with her and a proper observation of her actions and behaviour. Relating this theory to culture, we can say that a person could be able to understand another person’s culture and its meaning by interacting with them and by observing how it works. Thus, through constant interaction and observation, one can be able to describe and interpret others’ meaning despite not being able to experience them first
Our moral beliefs indicate the kind of environment or culture we grew up in. Therefore, if we were born in Somalia, we would believe that it is morally right to go through female circumcision as a rite of passage. However, if we grew up in the western world, then we would not believe in female circumcision. We can therefore see the relativist 's argument of cultural relativism in this case, because if cultural relativism exists, then naturally, morality will also be relative. Additionally, to support his stance, the relativist will also argue that tolerance comes into play when it comes to cultural relativism.
In this prompt the argument that Morality exists is irrelevant, contrary to our thoughts and beliefs. Everyone follows a set of moral rules. Ethical relativists disagree with this belief because, they believe that morals are distinctive from each individual culture. These relativists as described are mixing up moral and cultural distinctions, or are simply not willing to completely understanding the cultures they are standing up for. There are two different types of relativism Ethical, and Cultural, that rely upon the argument of cultural differences, which have flaws that make the argument unsound.
The ethics of cultural relativism are different than traditional ethical theories mainly because cultural relativism dismisses morality. Cultural relativism is named so because the ethics of different cultures
”(p.19) This shows that in the study of ethics, the study of moral relativism to be more specific, the idea of universal truth does not exist. That is to say what is perceived as “good” or “right” can vary form culture to culture, so there is no way to have one universal truth. Two major examples of cultural differences that are often cited in Support
Thus, the Other and oneself “must learn to find the communication of consciousnesses in a single world [..] gathered together in a single world in which we all participate as anonymous subjects of perception” (Merleau-Ponty, 2013, pp 369). Meaning that one 's experience of the Other s intrinsically related to the Individual 's own experience and existence. Moreover, for Merleau-Ponty, there are three main characteristics which demonstrate the relation between the Individual and the
Piedad Molina Professor Ana Hernandez LIT 2480 October 7, 2015 Culture is the set of traditions, beliefs, and values, which are characteristic of a certain population. Each country or region has different parameters to determine their culture. The predominant values in the population, the language spoken, religious beliefs, and the way they dress; all these manners influence in the creation of a culture and what is autonomous of its region. Within a country we can find different cultures or ethnicities, social status, education and region make a population differ from another. The exchange of cultural ideas, beliefs, and values with the youngest members of the community make it possible for a culture to survive and to keep the legacy.
Every society has its own unique cultures in which people will have different ideas of moral codes. The diversity of these cultures cannot be said to be correct or incorrect. Every society has independent standards of ethic within their society and these standards are culture-bound. Cultural Relativism has a perception in which rightness or wrongness of an action depends entirely within the bounds of the culture. This theory opposes the belief in the objectivity of moral truth.
Introduction Culture and Subculture Culture is a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. (Tylor, 1871) Subculture is a different, or even opposes, the mainstream culture in society in terms of norms and values. It is formed by people sharing similar background. These people usually form their own norms, values, attitudes, and lifestyle.
Cultural Narrative Culture is recognized as a noun and according to the dictionary it is defined as, “The customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation or people.” In other words, culture is the identity of a particular community that is learned by previous generations and is implied by certain institutions. Culture never remains the same because the future generations keep on evolving their beliefs and ways, of which they do things. There is a probability that your culture may differ from mine, and that is what makes our cultures so great! Our culture is what allows us to stand out and differ from one another.
In other words, “right” or “wrong” are culture specific, what is considered moral in one society may be considered immoral in another, and, since no universal standard of morality that exist, no one has the right to judge another societies custom (Ess, 2009). Cultural Relativism is closely related to ethical relativism, which views truth as variable and not absolute. What makes up right and wrong is determined solely by individual or the society (Ess, 2009). Since the truth is not object, there can be no standards which applies to all cultures.
Gilligan ( 1997) achieved the conclusion that Kohlbergs hypothesis did not represent the way that ladies approach moral issues from a morals of consideration, instead of a morals of equity point of view, which moves a portion of the essential presumptions of Kohlbergs hypothesis. Additionally Critics have brought up that Kohlbergs hypothesis of good advancement overemphasizes the idea as equity when settling on good decisions. Commentators including Carol Gilligan have recommended that Kohlbergs hypothesis was sexual orientation one-sided since the majority of the subjects in his example were male. Kohlberg trusted that ladies had a tendency to stay at the third level of good advancement since they put a more grounded emphasis on things, for
Criticism on Social Learning Theory Introduction Social learning theory is a theory related to classical and operant conditioning, which proposed by Albert Bandura in 1977. According to Albert Bandura, people are active agents in learning while they use cognition and social interaction in learning (Rogers, 2010). Albert Bandura considered that people are living in the environment, therefore, human behavior should be studied in social context rather than in laboratory (Bandura, 1977).
(Luco, Week 3 Notes, p.9) Cultural Relativism is simply a combination of the following three theses: 1. The only criterion of moral truth or falsehood is the moral code of a cultural group. 2. A moral claim is true, relative to a culture’s moral code, if and only if the claim is generally accepted within that cultural
Cultural relativism has a variety of definitions, but the main idea is that a universal code of ethics does not exist--it varies culture to culture. Rachel’s examines cultural relativism in “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism” and argues that there are commonalities of ethics throughout every culture. Rachels sections off his argument to better explain what they believe. In this piece, they argue that cultural relativism is not a proper theory. They argue that it has many major flaws, but they acknowledge that parts of theory have some truth to it.
This is accomplished by acknowledging similar experiences between different ethnic backgrounds and creating a new common ground that can be build on. Behavioural and cognitive perspectives focus on the solo learner. Whereas the socio-cultural perspective sees learning as a social activity and acknowledges how peer norms, social supports, knowledgeable people, and cultural and historical circumstances (Conway,