Cultural Relativism Civil War

Improved Essays
Race has played an important role in the Unites State’s history. The Harrison book talks about how important the Civil War is in understanding today’s culture. Everyone must look back at slavery and must remember to forget that they believe that slavery is wrong because people in that time period did not believe that is was wrong. Sociologist need the past to understand the future too. Segregation has caused Jim Crow Laws, and Redlining to occur which influences poverty in urban areas (Harrison). Today, the former slaves, “the darker ones come even now not altogether empty-handed: there are today no truer exponents of the pure human sprite of the Declaration of Independence than the American Negroes” which shows their national loyalty (Levine, …show more content…
Every culture is different, with its own symbols, traditions and practices. When studying other cultures researchers have to keep cultural relativism as a priority. Cultural relativism is an important idea that all scholars use. In anthropology, it is used when researchers look at different groups of people like the Yanomamo. When Napoleon Chagnon went and studied one of the most violent group he could not judge their traditions, customs or religious believes with his modern views. Cultural relativism does not only affect culture and different times, but also different races and cultures. This problem started with the Civil War and segregation, but still can continue in our world. Race has and will continue to be an important topic that effects society, but what is power? …show more content…
The most interesting is archology, which studies human remains and remains of society to study how individuals interacted with one another. With this interaction, there is a power struggle in all societies except a hunting and gathering society. Cultural anthropology is very similar to sociology and the lines between them are foggy. Cultural anthropology looks at Marx and Weber and other important theorists. The biggest idea that is in anthropology is kinship group is defined by the sociology textbook as “people related to one another by blood” (Harrison 73). These individuals are generally self-sufficient economically (Harrison). Kinship groups normally form around a nuclear family, so normally mother, father and then children. Going to a new society or community, a big part thing that anthropologist study is relationships, so they spend a long time making kinship trees. Anthropologist categorize kinship in seven different ways, Eskimo Hawaiian, Sudanese, Omaha, Crow and Iroquois. The Eskimo system is the most popular way to categorize people in North America and Europe. Human relationships include gender roles, division of labor, religion, warfare and politics. Kinship is important in a popular anthropology and sociology issue of poverty and homelessness

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    “The Struggle for Black Equality” by Harvard Sitkoff, summarizes the key elements in the fight for the civil rights of African Americans from 1954-1980. The book was set up in chronological order, each chapter embodying the new step to gain equality. The first chapter is titled “Up from slavery,” it consists of the small actions that took place slowly to assure the equal rights. By the end of the first chapter, the concept of equal rights was introduced more prominently, opening people's eyes to the problem. Nevertheless, there was still doubt in the system and people who did not agree.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The United States has had a problem of racism dating back to conflicts between European settlers and Native Americans. In the 1950s, racism was at the core of the conflict of the time, and the motivation behind segregation. Melton A. McLaurin’s book, Separate Pasts: Growing Up White in the Segregated South, shows his conflict with accepting, understanding, and challenging the idea of the “etiquette of segregation”. The descendant of a comparatively wealthy white family, McLaurin’s early life failed to allow him to imagine the reality of the dynamic between the black and white population of Wade, North Carolina. As he aged, McLaurin began to realize that the residents of Wade seemed almost unanimously to follow an unspoken, but race-defined,…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Analytical Book Review The book Black Reconstruction by W.E.B. Du Bois is one of the major books that reveal the post-Civil War US and the position of African Americans as well as their role in the war and changes that occurred to the position of African Americans. At the beginning of the book, Du Bois provides the description of the black worker, the white worker, and the planter. Steadily, the author shifts toward the revelation of burning problems in the US society and the intrinsic contradiction between workers and land owners, including former slave owners. The author uncovers the unbearable position of workers and reveals the role of African Americans in the possible transformation of the US society.…

    • 1517 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although the North was progressing with the integration of black people, the South was holding out strong going against integration. The South did a lot of things to hold segregation to their tradition. They were scared to change. This essay will show how the South lived before the Emmett Till case and the Civil Rights’ Movement, also what the South did to resist integration, and lastly how the town of Money,Mississippi, worked together so two killers did not get convicted for a murder of a black forteen-year old boy.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Book Critique: Racial Equality in America, by John Hope Franklin. This paper is developed to display a summary of "Racial Equality in America", by John Hope Franklin, and to make a critique of the book. The first part shows information about the author and the credentials that confirm him as an important spokesman for racial equality in America. Also, after the summary, I will try to give my humble vision on how to change the "obsession" of Americans regarding racism (adjective copied by me from Franklin).…

    • 2219 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Reconstruction

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The topic at hand refers to the Civil War and the events of the Reconstruction period. I will be clarifying the non-effectiveness of these events as they pertain to the social, economic and political status of blacks in the United States. Though these were a descent start to something to be admired, the changes due to blacks were nonexistent. Nearing the end of the Civil War, the South was facing political pandemonium, social disorder, and economic decay. Destruction overshadowed the South and hundreds of thousands of free slaves fled to Union lines.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the 1950’s the idea of “separate but equal” continued to be a prominent ideology in the United States, particularly in the Southern states. It was not until after World War II and the Cold War that international concerns provoked Americans to rethink about the domestic issues about human rights within the country. The United States had became the leader in preventing the spread of communism to parts of the world, but refused to realize that segregation and the denial of human rights made the United States existed. The United States was in a way hyprocrite to the causes it was fighting for. In Robert F. Williams’ book, Negroes with Guns, he addresses the international concerns that influenced the strategies pursued by Williams and other civil rights activists.…

    • 1054 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    During the Glided Age of America radical reconstruction of the America was something that changed the future of our nation. Our country was spilt North VS. South on whose ideology was right for the future of America. The South’s ideology was that African Americans were beneath them simply for the color of their skin often times African Americans were described as “Childlike and inferior” (238). This is a prime example of the demeanor that many southerns had towards people of African American descent.…

    • 1316 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the Reconstruction period and the Civil war, times were changing. Paths were being made for African Americans. Laws and amendments were paving the country’s way to greatness. Through this time, the United States accomplished becoming one great nation, while civil rights and laws helped establish who was an American, even though many resisted, the country’s dark past got the USA to unity and it led to where it is today.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reconstruction Dbq

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The struggle of economic and political issues after the Civil War in 1865, was the Reconstruction period; in which the government attempted to bring back the former South. Abraham Lincoln first introduced his Reconstruction plan in 1863, in hopes of unifying the North and South to once again become a unified state, but its lack of success left the plan with a destructive and unruly experience. Although Reconstruction did help many Southerners to survive, but the failure of Reconstruction dominated, due to the fact that African Americans and some poor whites, never gained the power and equality that they were first promised, until later in the 1900s. After the Civil War, hundreds and thousands of African Americans were free from their plantation…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The reconstruction era was a highly anticipated period for former African American slaves. After the north won the Civil War, questions remained as to how to unify the country, and what rights should be ascribed to former slaves. Yet, former slaves further questioned how this period would influence their newly acquired freedoms. Despite the anticipations of newly freed African American slaves, the reconstruction era failed to create conditions that would allow African Americans to achieve equal rights. The failures of the reconstruction era, and the decision to allow former African American slaves to remain in the south will be explored in order to determine how these decisions influenced the lives of African Americans.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    So the relationship between the American Revolution and the black freedom was based on untapped manpower or in exchanged of a cowardly son. As a result, this exchange came with the price tag of freedom. From a slave’s perception, that meant living a life of…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When we visit another country, we need to keep in mind that there are different cultures and tradition. Some of the behaviors that we are accustomed may be accepted in our country. On the other side, some of these behaviors may not be acceptable in other places. For this reason, it is very important to be familiar with each culture and tradition before visiting because it can definitely help prevent any uncomfortable result from our actions. Cultural relativism is quite important for the reason that this will help you understand that other societies have different cultures and beliefs.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    White Vs Black The world we live in today is not only diverse through culture, religion, and ethnic background. What most people notice is on the outside to what they can only see. Since 1896, segregation has been one of the world’s biggest issues between culture identities. Two culture identities such as white and African American people have been impacted heavily upon each other in many ways, due to the history and communication that caused enormous amount of unnecessary tension between the two groups.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Moral Relativism Essay

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Although this concept isn’t great for our society, it has a greater success outcome compared to absolutism. In Mary Midgley’s article, she discusses the issues with moral relativism. She claims that although moral relativism doesn’t have the greatest outcome, it is a way to view different cultures. Every culture does something based on their religion and or…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics