"Queer Customs"-- Clyde Kluckhohn,
Mirror for Man, 1949
Wonderous and Infinite Variety of Cultural Practices
- Humans share biological traits and characteristics which form the basis
for the development of culture.
- People typically feel their own cultural beliefs and practices are normal
and natural, and those of others to be strange, or even inferior- abnormal.
- Emphasizes:
- Human needs are fulfilled through
a variety practices.
- Common biology is modified through
the learning process: What tastes good, what is "normal."
- We are the product of a strange
and interesting mix of biology and culture
- Problem of Ethnocentrism
- Cultural Relativism allows us to appreciate the beliefs and practices of other
cultures on their own terms.
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Last Updated: June 18, 1997