Issues and debates

Outline what is meant by cultural relativism (2)

• The idea that a behaviour can only be properly understood in the context of the norms and values of the culture in which it occurred.

• Different cultures have different norms

Define etic and emic

Etic - looks at behaviour from outside a given culture and attempts to describe those behaviours that are universal

Emic - functions from within certain cultures and identifies behaviours that are specific to that culture

Imposed etic - assuming that the behaviour from one's culture is the model behaviour that can be imposed upon the rest of the world

e.g. Milgram’s study suffers from an imposed etic despite its emic constructs + explain

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