Names: Tambor, Jarid B. Zarate, Novianne S.

Title: The Impact of Cultural Relativism in the Acquisition of Organizational Positions among Universities in Cagayan de Oro.

Thesis Statement: Cultural Relativism affects in the acquisition of organizational positions among universities in Cagayan de Oro through lookism and linguicism.

I.

Cultural Relativism in connection with Lookism and Linguicism in the acquisition of Organizational Position. A. Definition of cultural relativism with regards of the different cultures. B. Lookism and Linguicism as a set of standards in a culture.

II.

Lookism and Linguicism are part of cultural relativism that is considered as the primary basis of acquiring positions among Universities in Cagyan de Oro. A. Students who have the looks and the ability in languages are the ones who are mostly elected in the position.

B. It is widely accepted that in any culture, the physical and oral abilities of the person are primarily considered. C. Those with pleasing personalities and good speaking abilities have the highest tendencies in acquiring organizational position. III. The negative impact of Lookism and Linguicism towards individuals, whom are interested in the organizational positions. A. Lookism and Linguicism gives standards in applying for any organizational position. B. It gives biases among individuals who are not blessed with the physical and oral abilities. C. It lowers the confidence and the self-esteem of the individuals. D. Persons who are physically and orally challenged do not have the chance to show off their capabilities. IV. Cultural Relativism neutralizes the two prejudices Lookism and Linguicism against its negative effects. A. Through the principle of cultural relativism, no one has the right to judge this type of culture. B. It does not give the people a particular culture.

Introduction: This research paper talks about the effects of cultural relativism in the acquisition of any organizational position among universities by means of lookism and lingucism. The problem concerned in this paper is the negative effects of the two prejudices; lookism and linguicism in attaining organizational positions and why it is tolerated. Through library and electronic research, the researchers will come up with three things in the paper. Firstly, we will explain the definitions of cultural relativism, lookism and linguicism, and its connection towards the acquisition of organizational positions. Secondly, we will show the factor of lookism and linguicism as the primary qualifications in applying organizational positions. Lastly, we will give the effects of linguicism and lookism as a form of discrimination. This study focuses on the college students who are engaged in different positions in any university organizations.

I. Cultural Relativism and its Connection to Lookism and Linguicism Culture is the total way of life shared by member of the society. This includes the language, values, and symbolic meanings but also technology and material object based on the book of Sociology. This would mean that it is through culture where our personalities are shaped. It is through culture which also affects our decisions and perceptions. We have known that we have different cultures and some of this culture may be against or agrees based on our perception. We all have our tendencies to judge others based on how our cultures mold us. For example, in Wodaabe of Niger, mothers are not allowed to touch their first or second born child, except for nursing, and in order that

1 there will be lavish affection and attention to the grandmother and the aunties (Beckwith, 1983). We have tendencies to react with this culture because we have not experienced or it is different from how we are raised. However, that culture also has the corresponding good effect. According to Brinkerhoff (1988), it has a good effect on the childbearing to emphasize loyalties and affection throughout the entire group rather than to ones own spouse. It provides a norm; solidarity ensures the new child would be loyal to the group. The way of evaluating this norms and values is called for cultural relativity; that each culture trait must be evaluated in the context of its own culture. This cultural relativism states that no practice is good or universally bad, for the goodness are relative not absolute. However, this Cultural relativism also applies in sub-cultures like the Organizations, because it has also set of norms and standards in which is followed by the members of the organizations. It has set standards of standards in subcultures, especially in applying for any organizational positions. One of these standards is the beauty or the appearance. Then, because of this, we tend to judge others in appearance called as Lookism (The Psychology of Social and Cultural Diversity, 2011). We tend to discriminate others through the physical attributes, through the color of the skin, body structures, and how they look like generally. However, another factor is the linguistic ability of an individual. People with good sense and ability in talking are more likely gain the trust and believe of the masses. The persons linguistic ability in which is judge by others is called as Linguicism, (Vega, et.al,

2 2009). Linguisticism is a term derived from the tendencies to judge others by means of how one talks in front of the masses.

II. Lookism and Linguicism in the Acquisition of Organizational Position. Nowadays, lookism and linguicism are considered as the primary factors in acquiring any organizational positions. With no doubt, the majority of us students of this institution are aiming and competing for ourselves for these limited positions. It is very evident that those individuals who are handling these certain positions are mostly beautiful and good in speaking and this is happening because of the issue that physically attractive and has good oral ability individuals are the ones that are hired or elected immediately. According to Khuram (2007), Lookism is our tendency to discriminate badlooking people prevails in our attitudes. He also stated that Individuals appearance has very much to do with the over-all social status for him/ her. He believed on Darwins concept of natural selection that of selecting good looking and better life partners but he doesnt believe in Darwins Survival of the Fittest principle thinking that If fittest means good looking, or more healthy, or more intelligent or clever; then according to survival of fittest principle, majority population should consist of good looking, more healthy etc. people. This is not true not only for humans, but for other animals as well. Majority human population consists of ordinary looking common people. In animals, superior breeds of animals are in so many minorities that even the future survival of many of those breeds is in danger. Many superior and the fittest species already have been

3 extinguished. To summarize Khurams point in the context, he defines lookism as the possibility of the good looking people to discriminate bad looking ones, but it doesnt mean that those bad looking individuals are inferior to the physically attractive ones. However, going back to the issue, lookism also affects a persons acquisition of organizational position. Attractive people earn more than people who are not attractive. This is a problem with both genders. People who are more attractive sort themselves into occupations where being attractive may be more productive. Interest in "lookism, the construction of a standard of beauty/attractiveness," is an expression of a belief that people failing to meet that standard are mistreated (Biddle and Hamermesh, 1994). This statement of Biddle and Hamermesh also correlates with Patzers idea stated in his book The Power and Paradox of Physical Attractiveness that physical attractiveness is a more powerful determinant of a persons fortune and misfortune in life than people admit. No matter the words, thoughts and ideals proclaimed by people, these same people judge, assume, infer, believe, act, treat, decide, accept, reject, and behave toward or against individuals, in patterns consistent with their own physical attractiveness predominates. Patzers other book entitled looks; why they matter more than you ever imagined also stated that, Physical attractiveness gets you everywhere, from the better job and the better spouse to the better verdict at your criminal trial, who interact with the company clients get paid more year after year, and that fact is reinforced when those good-looking workers inspire others and also increase their salary productivity (Howse, 1998). Despite scientific uncertainty, employers apparently

4 believe that good looks contribute to the success of their companies, because the trend is to hire for looks, even though employers risk charges of illegal discrimination (Greenhouse, 2003) The authors provided evidences in their works that physical attractiveness articulates the great importance of a person as he/she went on an organizational position. On the other hand, according to Wikipedia, Linguicism or linguistic discrimination is a form of prejudice based on choice and use of language. linguicism is often more subconscious than other forms, possibly because not much attention has been raised about it; it is not a cultural taboo as racism and sexism are today. Furthermore, many feel that it is not logically unjustifiable or morally reprehensible to draw inferences about a person's education partly based on their linguistic proficiency. However, as most linguists note, the definition that such people use of what constitutes proficiency is often illogical. This definition from Wikipedia also leads to the issue that oral ability in language is also one of the primary basis of a persons acquisition of any organizational position. According to Kangas(1985) who coined the concept of linguicism, "ideologies and structures which are used to legitimate, effectuate, and reproduce unequal division of power and resources (both material and non-material) between groups which are defined on the basis of language.". These statements obviously show the discrimination of a person who belongs to a language recessive group. During the Meeting de Avance, before the election, every candidate has to deliver their own speeches. We, the audience, cannot deny that our impression to the candidate who speaks well has the ability to become a good leader. This act is also somehow considered as a form of

5 Discrimination to others who do not speaks well but has the capability to be a good leader in some more ways. The reason why we, the voters use this way of selecting or choosing a person to handle a certain organizational position is because when misunderstandings occur in communications, its rarely only the fault of one person thats why speakers and listeners usually share the communicative burden (Piller, 2010) that, as soon as native and non native speakers are involved, native speakers oftentimes opt out of sharing and communicative and place responsibility for ensuring communicative success exclusively on the shoulders of non-native speakers. According to Pillar, we came out to this sense of thinking because we believe that a persons linguistic is a relatively stable trait. Language proficiency often fossilizes at a particular level and progress beyond that level can be difficult. The ability to learn new language and developing oral ability generally decreases with age, and many other factors such as aptitude or opportunity may conspire to make improve language proficiency near possible. To make this statement of Ingrid Piller simplier, his point is that the voters are actually looking forward that the candidate running for a particular organizational position can never improve his/her oral skills as throughout the term believing that a persons linguistic repertoire is a relatively stable trait. II.Lookism and Linguicism affects the acquisition of Organizational Position. Lookism and Linguicism are the two prejudices, in which are the primary factors in the acquisition of organizational positions. The physical appearance of the running candidate serves as the first impression. According to Ryan Nichols (2008), the more
beautiful the individual, the more likely he or she will receive unjustified positive discrimination. The more ugly, the more likely he or she will receive unfair treatment. Therefore, it serves as

6 the impact or the additional point in the voters. Its physical attributes highlights them from the other candidates. However the linguistic ability of an individual is also another factor, the way the person speaks and convey his/her message to the people. It is also helpful if the candidate has two or more spoken languages, to impress the crowd. These two prejudices have caused effects towards an individual. It promotes biases and inequality among people. Lookism, the tendency to judge others based on the physical appearance, has three effects on the individuals; Firstly, losses the confidences of those who are physically challenged, even if they had the capability to role over the people. Secondly, it gives a lesser guarantee of chance to those who are pursuant aspiring leaders, who are more deserving than the other, because they lack self attractiveness. Lastly, it greatly affects the self-esteem of an individual, to run for any candidacy. On the other hand, Linguicism also has three points to give as an effect. Through linguicism, orally impaired individuals losses the chance to prove themselves and expose their leadership abilities. Those candidates who are not so good in public speaking but supposedly good servant of the people, does not have the chance

because they do not know how to convey themselves in front of the crowd. And individuals whom only know one language, is behind than those who knows a lot of language. IV. Cultural Relativism as the Principle that no Culture is Superior to the Other Lookism and Linguicism are the two prejudices which can be evaluated with its negative effects but still is accepted because of what we Cultural Relativism. Through

7 this concept that no culture is superior to the other, therefore no one is entitled to judge the other because of the sense that it is part of the culture, and there is something within that particular culture or subculture that is helpful to them. Lookism in the subculture as organization for instance, cannot be judged as wrong or right in terms of the concept of Lookism and Linguicism. It is because lookism and linguicism are part of the organizational culture; thereby one cannot just jude the other because it is basically part of the subculture. It is part of the norms and behavior of the people. Lookism and Linguicism is just part of their set of requirements, as one segment that serves as the standards of it. Conclusion: In this paper, the researchers were able to give the negative impacts of lookism and linguicism as primary factors in applying in any organizational position. We have explained how these two prejudices are related to cultural relativism and why it is still accepted in any culture. We have also researched how Lookism and linguicism affects the individuals. Several studies should be done. Further researched can be conducted to determine the other effects of lookism and linguicism in the acquisition of any organizational positions among universities. A survey should be conducted among universities regarding this topic in order to have a more accurate basis for this topic. It also needed further readings of books in Sociology and Psychology for better understanding of the topic. Interviews of people who know about this topic are also highly appreciated.

References

Books

Stewart, E. (1978). Sociology: The Human Science. United States of America: Mcgraw Hill Inc. Weston, L. (Eds) (1997).The Study of Society (2nd Eds.) Dunskin Publishing Group. Harris, M. (1987). Cultural Anthropology. Harper and Row Publisher. Chryssouchou, X. (2004). Cultural Diversity: Its Social Psychology. Wiley. Backwell. Hinskens, F. (2006). Language Arts and Discipline. Language Variation European Perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing Company. Smelser, N. (1981). Sociology. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity. University Of California, Berkeley: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Schaefer, R., Lamm, R., (1998). Sociology (6th Eds.). States of America: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Granleese, J., Sayer, G. (2006). Gendered Lookism and Sexism: A triple Jeopardy for Female Academics. [Review of the Women in Management] Vol. 21(6), 500-517. Schaefer, R., Lamm, R. (1995). Sociology (5th eds.) States of America: Mcgraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Vega, V. et.al (2009). Social Dimensions of Education. Metro Manila: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.

Internet Sources: Retrieved from: http:// www.cultural-relativism.com/ Retrieved from: http:/ www.gotquestions.org/cultural-relativism.html

Retrieved from: http:/khuram.wordpress.com/2007/03/18/lookism-our-tendency-todiscriminate-bad-looking-individuals/ Retrieved From: http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookism