I'm writing a paper on multiculturalism and us/them divisions and I'm having trouble defining them. I understand that ethnocentrism is looking at the world from the viewpoint of one's own culture, but is the meaning of cultural relativity: "beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of one's own culture?"|||I like Tehabwa's definition.
The differences and conflicts would be
(i) scope/applicability:
cultural relativism: a fact or event is meaningful only within its cultural context
ehtnocentrism: everything outside one's cultural context also gets a sweeping qualification from MY cultural standards.
(ii) what constitutes inappropriate/invalid interpretation
cultural relativism: any qualification where the fact or event is interpreted out of its cultural context
ethnocentrism: any qualification where the fact or event is interpreted out of MY cultural context
These contrasts show how each of the two might differ in direct contradiction of the other.|||I think I have pondered on this one before myself. Not a lot of difference - for everyday language. But if you're doing a dissertation - you better be spot on. So disregard my "unresearched" ramble.
What's the difference between one's cultural background and one's ethnic background? It's get quite cloudy.|||Cultural relativity says that there's no better or worse, or right or wrong, except as defined by each culture.
Ethnocentrism says MY culture is superior; all the rest are inferior.
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