Question

If you were reared in the u.s. society, more than likely you think eating frog legs is okay; eating ants or flies is disgusting; and eating cod sperm, maggot cheese, dogs, cats and monkey brains is downright repugnant. how would you apply the concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism to your perceptions of these customs? how do the traditional chinese customs regarding the dead differ from your culture's customs?

Answer 1

People’s point of views diverges all around the world. What is acceptable for some people, it is unacceptable for others. Usually, we tend to think that we are right and the people that are different from us and from our culture, are wrong. The previous statement has to do with the fact that all the human races think they are unique and genuine. This way of thinking is very normal, according to the way in which most us have been raised. Our past generation has implanted in our brains the fact that we should feel unique individuals and that lead us to act in an egocentric way.

Ethnocentrism is commonly known as the belief that a particular group of people is superior to all other groups around the world. Because of that, some particular human groups think they proceed right in every aspect of life. However, cultural relativism is the belief that the ethical or moral ways of view can vary from culture to culture and all of these are equally valid by claiming that there is not such a thing like good or evil. Thus, every opinion on ethics or morality is completely subjective to a cultural point of view. In other words, any system is the “best” or the “worst” around the world. With that said, even though there exist some customs that are completely different from ours, the idea is to act in a tolerate way in order to coexist with people from cultures that diverge from ours by accepting their respective customs.  

The traditional Chinese customs differs a lot from the Occidental customs. For example, they eat some things (and animals) that we don’t usually eat. With that said, the most important thing is to keep in mind that we all need to respect each other’s customs and/or beliefs in order to be respected as well by our peers.