UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY

AND POLITICS (UCSP)

Lesson 4 – Week 2
Explain the Importance of Cultural
Relativism in Attaining Cultural
Understanding.
(UCSP11/12DCSId-10)
REY PHILIP A. LUMAIN
Teacher II/Subject Teacher
Instructions:

1. The class will be divided into 4 groups.

2. The teacher will give the situations related to Filipino
Values.
3. Each group will be given 35 seconds to prepare.

4. After 25 seconds, the group will freeze.

5. The teacher will determine the winning group. Each
situation is good for 5 points and it will be credited as
performance task.
Bayanihan: We
are Heroes to
Each Other
Hospitality: Be
our guests
Kasiyahan: Joy
and Humor
Malasakit: We
Care for Others
Pakikiramay:
Symphathy
Pananampalataya:
(Faith in Supreme
Big)
Let us process!
1. What makes Filipino values
unique?

2. Why Filipino values are

valuable?
 Let us
define some
terms
Cultural Relativism

- It is the ability
to understand a culture
on its own terms and
not to make judgments
using the standards of
one's own culture.
 The gesture of
reaching out to
shake another
person's hand as
a greeting is
considered
correct by
Filipinos with
Western
influence.
 However, this practice
would be considered
unacceptable and
unethical in other
societies in Asia and
Africa, where it is
expressed in bowing
rather than shaking
hands, greeting with both
hands on one's chest,
forehead, and kisses. can.
Another example,
instead of
thinking, “Fried
crickets are
disgusting! ” one
should instead
ask, “Why do
some cultures eat
fried insects?”.
 You may learn that
fried crickets or
grasshoppers are full of
protein and in Mexico,
it is famous Oaxaca
regional cuisine and
have been eaten for
thousands of years as a
healthy food source!
Dos besos
Meaning: “Two kisses on the cheeks”
How to do: Kiss a person
twice, once on each cheek.
But keep in mind that you
won’t actually be kissing
them, but only pretending
to. You must always start by
leaning to your left side,
which is their right cheek.
Notice that in other
countries, such as France,
they start on the other side.
 When or where to
use: This greeting is
typically used between a
woman and a man, or a
woman and another
woman—or between
kids. If you’re two men,
but you’re from the
same family, you can
also give him dos besos.
The goal of this is
to promote
understanding of
cultural practices
that are not
typically part of
one's
own culture.
Cultural Relativism…

is important to anthropology and one of the things that

makes anthropology unique because it is a tool, a method
for attempting to see things from a multiplicity of viewpoints
so as to better understand them.

does not mean that anything a culture does is good or

moral. This is one of the ones that confuse people.
Cont. Cultural Relativism…
teaches us that, marriage patterns are cultural options, not
objective truth.

doesn’t mean that cultures can’t be compared. There is

sometimes a strange notion that there are no commonalities
between cultures.

This is one of the reasons why those trained in cultural

anthropology are often great problem solvers for complex
issues.
 The importance of understanding cultural relativism is to
know one's own culture. Understanding this perspective of
cultural relativism leads to the view that no culture is
superior than another culture and the idea that culture can
be compared in terms of law, politics, and systems has no
bases at all.
The concept that a person's beliefs, values, and
practices should be understood based on that person's
own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of
another.
 Cultural relativism cannot be used to evaluate other
cultures based on the ideas you believe in. An example is a
country who specialized dried fried crickets for food and you
think it is weird because it is not usual in your culture.
Cultural relativism is an idea, that cultures must be
examined, based on their own context and merits, not to be
seen as customs and codes of other cultures. Cultural
relativism is important in studying minority cultures,
colonized cultures, and other traditions which belongs to
another culture.
 ASSIGNMENT:

1. GO TO CHURCH
2. EAT YOUR FAVE FOODS
3. BOND WITH YOUR PARENTS AND FRIENDS
4. TRAVEL YOUR FAVE DESTINATIONS