Each culture governs the activities and standard of living in a particular civilization. A solid understanding of cultural perception is essential to understand the diversity that exists between different cultural orientations. Ethnocentrism is a way of seeing the world from one’s perspective. This helps to recognize cultural differences and how they relate to other cultures. It also encourages cultural diversity. Crapo (2016) describes ethnocentrism, as having the perception or belief that one’s culture is better than that of others. It promotes identity and solidarity. It can also create a gap between cultures by limiting people’s ability to understand the diversity of cultural values. Etic or emic perspectives on culture can help you to analyze cultural behavior from both an external and internal perspective, fostering cultural relativity. Cultural relativism allows for the understanding of both the good and evil sides of any value or practice, which in turn facilitates appreciation of different cultures. The thesis analyses gender roles in American culture (etic perspective), as well as death and rites of passage in Japanese society (emic perspective). The results of this investigation will be used to develop a culture relativism analysis that can be applied across many civilisations.
The outsider’s perspective on civilization is called the etic view. It is the process of seeing a cultural context from an external vantage point (Mazonde & Carmichael, 2020). This part will focus on my etic perspective regarding the cultural concept of gender roles within American culture. The critical etic perspective ensures one can understand their culture and be able to sympathize. This helps to develop a sense of diversity in society’s views, beliefs and values as well as an understanding of other lifestyles.
Any community is important for gender roles. These roles determine the way men and women see themselves in the work market, in their homes, and in pursuit of cultural and social change within the community. The leader of the social unit in a family is typically a male American. This belief explains why males are seen as the leaders of social organisations dominated by men. These men are in positions of power and influence within other areas. Smith, 2021). Men generally get more weight to do work. They also have the advantage of labor division and compensation. Because of this traditional view of genders, legislation was created to protect women from being discriminated against based on gender protected characteristics. The breadwinners are men, and the women care for the house by caring for the kids and managing the finances.