(i). The meaning of ethnocentrism, which tends to put down other people's way of doing things as bizarre or inferior.
(ii) Cultural relativism is an ethical position in which all cultures are taken as equal, each being a separate unit within its own integrity, that should not be compared to other cultures in terms of how it measures up to their standards.
(iii) Example of ethnocentrism: Human beings live in groups. Each group has its own way of life that we broadly term as culture. Members of a group arrive at the way they conduct themselves through a continuous process of trial and error culminating in beliefs, values, mores and folk ways. Thus, each culture functions in the context of its own experience and environment. Consequently an individual looks upon his/her own culture as better than any other, and tries to judge other cultures through the standards of his own culture. This tendency of judging other cultures through one's own scale is broadly termed as "ethnocentrism". Ethnocentrism is perpetuated directly or indirectly, consciously or unconsciously through a process which tends to put down other people's way of doing as bizarre or inferior. For example, cultures in which cross-cousin marriage is a norm, tends to look down upon the cultural practice in which a cross cousin is equated with a sister and vice versa.
(iv) Example of Cultural Relativism: Each culture has a history of its own, culture cannot be compared on a scale of excellence in which the ranks are set according to the standards of one particular group. Throughout our study of other cultures, we should attempt to overcome as much of our ethnocentrism as possible. We should try to become more objective about cultural differences, to be tolerant of other people. This attitude is known as cultural relativism.
