ETHNOCENTRISM AND CULTURAL RELATIVISM

by | Mar 7, 2023 | Home Science

 

 

Ethnocentrism leads to prejudice and is the belief that one’s own race, nation, or culture is superior to all others. In contrast, examine how cultural relativism, (the judging of a culture by the standards of others) can affect society by influencing prejudice and discrimination.

 

How does ethnocentrism lead to prejudice and discrimination?
Provide an example from your personal life or your observation of the world around you.
Identify the aspects of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in your example.
How can ethnocentrism be avoided to create a culturally sensitive environment?

 

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

Sample Solution

Ethnocentrism is defined as the belief that one’s own culture, nation or race is superior to all others. It results in prejudice and discrimination against people of different cultures, and leads to false assumptions about members of those groups. Prejudice can take many forms such as racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, ableism and homophobia. In contrast, cultural relativism is the belief that different cultures should be judged by their own standards rather than through comparison with another society’s beliefs or norms.

Sample Solution

Ethnocentrism is defined as the belief that one’s own culture, nation or race is superior to all others. It results in prejudice and discrimination against people of different cultures, and leads to false assumptions about members of those groups. Prejudice can take many forms such as racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, ableism and homophobia. In contrast, cultural relativism is the belief that different cultures should be judged by their own standards rather than through comparison with another society’s beliefs or norms.

I experienced both ethnocentrism and cultural relativism in my personal life when I moved from India to Canada for university studies. Initially I was overwhelmed by unfamiliar customs and values which were completely foreign to me; however over time I was able to adjust by accepting local mannerisms without judging them as ‘wrong’ or ‘inferior’. This enabled me to form meaningful relationships with people from various backgrounds while also maintaining respect for their individual cultures.

Through this experience I learned how important it is to step back from our own cultural perspective in order appreciate other points of view without passing judgement on them – an example of cultural relativism at work! Ethnocentrism can be avoided by recognizing that no single group has a monopoly on truth or knowledge – we must strive towards being open minded enough so that we situate ourselves within a global context where individuals are seen as equal regardless of race, gender or nationality. Additionally, creating an environment where questions are encouraged instead of dismissed out-of-hand helps foster cross-cultural understanding among diverse members of a community.

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