Antropología: Cultura, Etnocentrismo y Relativismo Cultural

Anthropology: Concepts and Key Ideas

Anthropology is the science that deals with the biological aspects of humans and their behaviour as members of a society. Its area of activity covers three dimensions: the biological dimension, the cultural dimension, and the philosophical dimension of the human being.

Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism, inspired by the work of Herbert Spencer, is an extrapolation of the concepts used in the theory of Darwinian evolution from Biology to other aspects of human reality, such as economy, society, or politics. It establishes the misconception or false idea that nature legitimises the oppression of the socially weaker by the stronger.

Culture

Culture is a set of information that is socially acquired and transmitted by means of language. While biological evolution is the way by which living beings adapt to the environment in which they live, because of cultural evolution, human beings have the ability to make the environment adapt to human needs.

Types of Culture

• Material culture. It refers to all the physical cultural elements that are artificially produced by humans: objects, devices, techniques, etc. For example, the technique to hunt or to build a house.

• Immaterial culture. Elements related to ways of thinking, knowledge, feelings, etc., such as ideas, beliefs, symbolic systems, moral values, political norms.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism. It is the attitude adopted by those who judge and appreciate the culture of other groups from criteria or beliefs belonging to their own culture.

Racism

Racism. It refers to all beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours based on the consideration that some races are superior to others; that is, it argues that there are different levels or categories of human races. Racism appears in any behaviour that encourages or permits the exclusion or isolation of a group or person based on their race, religion, etc.

Xenophobia

Xenophobia. It is an attitude of contempt and rejection toward foreign, different, or strange people. In the Greek language, it means "foreigner" or "stranger". Often, it is an emotional attitude produced by fear or ignorance.

Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism. This position considers that it is impossible to compare or evaluate the characteristics of different cultures. It is based on the belief that every culture has value in itself, since all its elements can be understood and explained only by means of an internal logic that is difficult for an external observer to grasp.

Cultural Universalism

Cultural universalism. This position suggests a rejection of ethnocentric attitudes to avoid some cultures putting down others. Cultural universalism stands for the need for a real dialogue in order to facilitate the acceptance of those cultural elements that have proven their effectiveness: democratic organization of society, respect for fundamental rights, equal opportunities, or appreciation of values such as freedom and solidarity.