Download Sanctions and Cultural Relativism

Sanctions and Cultural Relativism
• Sanctions: reactions people get for
following or breaking norms
(expressions of approval or
disapproval)
Types of Sanctions
• Positive—smile,
high five,
money, trophy.
• Negative—
frown, fine,
smack, middle
finger.
Types of Sanctions
• Material—
money, trophy,
fine, jail
sentence.
• Non-material—
smile, frown, pat
on the back,
spanking.
Moral holidays:
• breaks from the norms, where activities which
would normally lead to arrest or sanction can
be allowed
Reactions to other cultures:
• Culture shock:
–the disorientation that people
experience when they come in
contact with a different culture and
can no longer depend on what
they take for granted
• Ethnocentrism:
–the tendency
to view one’s
own culture
and group as
superior.
• Cultural
relativism:
–belief that
cultures should
be judged by
their own
standards
• Cultural relativism: belief that cultures should be
judged by their own standards
– To us, bull fighting is a barbaric practice: animal
cruelty and a sick crowd behavior, however we don’t
understand and didn’t experience the thousands of
years of culture, history, and evolving beliefs that
made bullfighting important in Spain.
– Similarly, the US only has recently gotten rid of bear
fighting, cock fighting, and dog fighting (though it of
course still lingers)
– An ideal of sociologists: but is arguably not a proper
ideal for all
Redefine - cultural relativism
– Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual
human's beliefs and activities should be understood in
terms of his or her own culture.
– Boas first articulated the idea in 1887: "...civilization is not
something absolute, but ... is relative, and ... our ideas and
conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes”
– Cultural relativism is an anthropological approach which
posit that all cultures are of equal value and need to be
studied from a neutral point of view. The study of a and/or
any culture has to be done with a cold and neutral eye so
that a particular culture can be understood at its own
merits and not another culture’s.
– Is this truly possible?
Should we judge cultures that force women to wear burquas?
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
• Read and Discuss –
Female Genital
Mutilation (as an
example of
ethnocentrism and
cultural relativism)
– Debate – is this
something that
should be
accepted?
Rite of passage
• Given to children as young as 4, not seen as women, or as “clean” if
not given.
– FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl properly, and
a way to prepare her for adulthood and marriage.
– FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper
sexual behaviour, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital
fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to reduce a woman's
libido, and thereby is further believed to help her resist "illicit" sexual
acts. When a vaginal opening is covered or narrowed (type 3 above),
the fear of pain of opening it, and the fear that this will be found out,
is expected to further discourage "illicit" sexual intercourse among
women with this type of FGM.
– FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty,
which include the notion that girls are “clean” and "beautiful" after
removal of body parts that are considered "male" or "unclean".
– No man will marry without FGM
A Moral Issue?
• Not necessarily: cultural relativism is not
moral relativism, though it can raise or be
tied with moral issues:
– Important as a sociologist or anthropologist to
view each culture neutrally, without your
preconceived notions!
• HARD TO DO
Debates issues of morality as it
relates to cultural relativism
– Debate: Female Genital Mutilation - Are cultures
that practice female circumcision morally
equivalent to those that do not?)
– Debate: cultural relativism/ethnocentrism –
what right do we have to judge other cultures?
– Should we judge other cultures?
– Should we try to fix or change behaviors like
this?
The Statistics
• According to UNICEF, at least 100 million
women, largely in Africa, have been genitally
disfigured. Two months ago, the World Health
Organization reported that these women,
compared to their uncut peers, were up to 69
percent more likely to hemorrhage after
childbirth and up to 55 percent more likely to
deliver a dead or dying baby. For every 100
deliveries, the WHO estimates that female
genital mutilation kills one or two extra kids.
Key facts
• Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally
alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
• The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women.
• Procedures can cause severe bleeding and problems urinating, and later,
potential childbirth complications and newborn deaths.
• An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently
living with the consequences of FGM.
• It is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and age
15 years.
• In Africa an estimated 92 million girls from 10 years of age and above have
undergone FGM.
• FGM is internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of
girls and women.
• Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve
partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to
the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
Cultural, religious and social causes
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The causes of female genital mutilation include a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within
families and communities.
Where FGM is a social convention, the social pressure to conform to what others do and have been
doing is a strong motivation to perpetuate the practice.
FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl properly, and a way to prepare her for
adulthood and marriage.
FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behaviour, linking
procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity. FGM is in many communities believed to
reduce a woman's libido, and thereby is further believed to help her resist "illicit" sexual acts.
When a vaginal opening is covered or narrowed (type 3 above), the fear of pain of opening it, and
the fear that this will be found out, is expected to further discourage "illicit" sexual intercourse
among women with this type of FGM.
FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls
are “clean” and "beautiful" after removal of body parts that are considered "male" or "unclean".
Though no religious scripts prescribe the practice, practitioners often believe the practice has
religious support.
Religious leaders take varying positions with regard to FGM: some promote it, some consider it
irrelevant to religion, and others contribute to its elimination.
Local structures of power and authority, such as community leaders, religious leaders, circumcisers,
and even some medical personnel can contribute to upholding the practice.
In most societies, FGM is considered a cultural tradition, which is often used as an argument for its
continuation.
In some societies, recent adoption of the practice is linked to copying the traditions of neighbouring
groups. Sometimes it has started as part of a wider religious or traditional revival movement.
In some societies, FGM is being practised by new groups when they move into areas where the
local population practice FGM.
International response
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In 1997, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a joint statement with the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA) against the practice of FGM. A new statement, with wider United Nations
support, was then issued in February 2008 to support increased advocacy for the
abandonment of FGM.
The 2008 statement documents new evidence collected over the past decade
about the practice. It highlights the increased recognition of the human rights and
legal dimensions of the problem and provides current data on the frequency and
scope of FGM. It also summarizes research about why FGM continues, how to stop
it, and its damaging effects on the health of women, girls and newborn babies.
Since 1997, great efforts have been made to counteract FGM, through research,
work within communities, and changes in public policy. Progress at both
international and local levels includes:
wider international involvement to stop FGM;
the development of international monitoring bodies and resolutions that condemn
the practice;
revised legal frameworks and growing political support to end FGM; and
in some countries, decreasing practice of FGM, and an increasing number of
women and men in practising communities who declare their support to end it.
Research shows that, if practicing communities themselves decide to abandon
FGM, the practice can be eliminated very rapidly.
WHO response
• In 2008, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution (WHA61.16) on
the elimination of FGM, emphasizing the need for concerted action in all
sectors - health, education, finance, justice and women's affairs.
• WHO efforts to eliminate female genital mutilation focus on:
• advocacy: developing publications and advocacy tools for international,
regional and local efforts to end FGM within a generation;
• research: generating knowledge about the causes and consequences of
the practice, how to eliminate it, and how to care for those who have
experienced FGM;
• guidance for health systems: developing training materials and guidelines
for health professionals to help them treat and counsel women who have
undergone procedures.
• WHO is particularly concerned about the increasing trend for medically
trained personnel to perform FGM. WHO strongly urges health
professionals not to perform such procedures.