Elise Murray Analysis of the Nacirema Sociology 101 04D Ivy Tech Community College Abstract The analysis of the article Body Ritual Among the Nacerima by Horace Minor uses key principles to help decipher the hidden meanings behind his work. The article is based off of Americans but written in a primitive manner to help show readers the importance of keeping an open mind. Cultural relativism is crucial when researching a new topic. This culture is different than others based
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JANE: Hi‚ Zach! ZACHERY: Hello‚ Jane. JANE: So‚ I was wondering‚ you just finished covering moral relativism in CRA‚ right? ZACHERY: Yup. JANE: Alright‚ well‚ John was talking to me the other day‚ and I was telling him about the work I’ve been doing to support education for women in Africa. And he told me that‚ according to some guy named Mackie‚ that people’s right to education isn’t actually a moral fact and me trying to increase the education of women isn’t justified‚ cuz I’m just forcing my own
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This paper will be a discussion of moral judgments and the disagreements surrounds their validity in the absolute and moral sense.Most philosophers believe in either Normative Moral Relativism or Moral Objectivism. In class‚ Normative Moral Relativism is defined as the view that the truth or falsity of moral judgments is relative to the traditions etc. of a society or culture. Moral Objectivism‚ however‚ is defined in class as the view that morality is objective only if three rules are met‚ the first
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and approach the studies of cultures using Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism. The definition of these terms is very different in many ways when describing cultures. Cultural Relativism is defined as the perspective that any aspect of a culture must be viewed and evaluated within the context of that culture. While‚ ethnocentrism‚ is defined as making value judgments based on one’s own culture when describing aspects of another culture. Cultural relativism is much more commonly used by anthropologist
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It is very important to pass down the formal rituals of the town to next generations. In order to pass down the ritual‚ the community will need a large black box to keep the folded papers together when the lottery starts‚ one folded paper with large black dot on‚ a stool to put the large black box on‚ and piles of stone. Remember the ritual might vary slightly from other communities‚ but the ritual is an important part of our society’s history and its present. In our society‚ a lottery will be held
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that they believe the customs of the other countries are backward and need improvement. “Other” women are criticized for allowing themselves to live in such an oppressed state‚ and their traditional cultural resources are seldom recognized. In addition‚ there is a tendency to dichotomize cross-cultural information; if women are suppressed or brutalized in the other culture‚ then they must be liberated in this country‚ and when we ask American students to explore how the international economic system
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is a moral standard that is set by society. However‚ these standards change as the way of life and cultural customs are different all over the world. A person’s “culture reflects the moral values and ethical norms that govern how they should behave and interact with others (Culture and Ethics)”. These changes in the ethical standards also change the moral relativism of a situation. Moral relativism is a theory where one is judged by the totality of a situation rather than the end result. Today we
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Relativism and absolutism are both equally important approaches when it comes to morality. They are both relevant in that they each follow along with one another in their approaches but both offer different directions and beliefs. Relativism is one of the challenges of morality and reflects upon the existence of morality in relation to culture‚ society‚ historical/era and individuals‚ only representing one of these relations but not the others. Absolutism also believes that morality has relation
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In A Defense of Moral Relativism‚ Ruth Benedict argues that normal behavior varies from society to society; therefore‚ what’s morally right for one society can be morally wrong for another. To support this argument‚ Benedict mentions how certain cultures practice what’s “abnormal” to us without any difficulty. She goes further to give examples of traits that are abnormal to us such as‚ “sadism or delusions grandeur or of persecution” (Benedict‚ 1934‚ p.1) and concludes saying that “these abnormal
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Despite the different forms of relativism in the end they are all constitute to the construction of the meaning‚ thus the social constructions and symbolic interactions are all significant when examining the problems existing with relativism. Relativism as a whole incorporates many strengths and weaknesses. However‚ for many the problems of relativism within the study of deviance underpin the strengths. Miller and Holstein (2007) The central problem deriving from relativism is that deviance and crimes
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