Difference between etic and emic approaches to culture
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Explanation:
When looking at any culture, our own or someone else's, it is possible to have two different perspectives. Being an ethnographer requires the ability to move easily from one perspective to the other. These two perspectives are emic and etic. The words are derived from linguistics, but have different meanings as used in cultural anthropology.
Emic Perspective
To gain the emic perspective on a culture means to view the world as a member of that culture views it. If you were born and brought up in one culture, you have been socialized to the emic perspective of that culture. You have acquired a view of the world which provides explanations for most of what you experience, as well as providing motives for your own and others actions. An outsider to the culture can learn an emic perspective, but it takes both time and the suspension of ethnocentrism. An emic view, for example, will enable you to explain all the nuances of finding a spouse in Pakistan, or how U.S. teenagers find dates. Obtaining an emic view of another culture is a central goal of doing ethnography, and an emic view is necessary before an etic perspective can truly be obtained.
Etic Perspective
To gain an etic perspective on a culture, your own or someone else's, requires even more work. Not only do you need to understand the emic perspective of the culture in question, you must also be able to emotionally detach yourself from that culture, in order to arrive at objective, testable hypothesis to explain observed behavior and beliefs. It is an "outsiders" view in the sense that it requires one to become a detached, objective, scientific observer of that culture. Most people from outside a culture will not have an etic perspective about it; they will have an ethnocentric perspective, interpreting behavior and beliefs in light of their own culture. Most people from inside a culture will not have an etic perspective about it; they will have an ethnocentric perspective, interpreting behavior and beliefs in light of their own culture.
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