EMIC-ETIC perspective: summary with EXAMPLES!

In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to study the emic-etic perspective, which was developed by the anthropologist and linguist Kenneth Pike and spread by the social anthropologist Marvin Harris in the 70s of the 20th century. Thus, the emic and etic perspectives are defined as two ways of discovering reality and as a form/category of analysis in the social sciences. In this way, emic alludes to the internal perspective and etic to the external perspective of the same reality or culture.

If you want to know more about the emic-etic perspective with examples, he continues reading this article because here we give you all the keys so that you understand it. Let's start!

The emic-etic terms were introduced by the American anthropologist and linguistics Kenneth Pike (1912-2000) in his work Language in Relation to Unified Theory of Structure of Human Behavior (1967). Where he establishes that emic-etic is an interpretation made by an individual (phoneme) against the acoustic reality of a sound (phonetics). Likewise, Pike alludes to two levels of analysis from linguistics and in relation to human behavior/culture:

• Emic= Phonoemics=phonology= phonemic data: Translation with meaning from the perspective of a language.
• Etic = Phonotics=phonetic= phonetic data: Transcription of a language.

However, this thesis was extended to the field of ethnography/anthropology through the anthropologist Marvin Harris (1927-2001) with his work Cultural Materialism (1980). From this moment on, the emic-etic concepts are reinterpreted and the method of analysis is redefined, establishing that emic-etic are two ways of interpreting a cultural reality.

• Emic: It describes the cultural reality and behavior from the point of view of the individuals that make up that culture. Namely from inside (=specific scope).
• ethics: Describes the cultural reality and behavior from the point of view of a person outside that culture. Namely from outside, an analysis carried out by a historian, anthropologist or sociologist (=external and universal scope).

Likewise, Harris himself clearly explains what this perspective is with the following sentence:

“…While in the West feminists have been struggling to liberate themselves by appearing in public with the bare chest, women in India have liberated themselves by refusing to appear in public with this discovered…”

In this way, with the emic-etic perspective, one seeks contrast two minds, that of the subject and that of the observer, so that the second (observer) can come to interpret not only from the etic but also be able to understand from the emic.

For this reason, from the 1960s onwards, from social anthropology, the objective was to delve deeper into the study and analysis from an emic perspective or from the inside, since that is the only way it can be understood the reason for a custom (intention, motivation, objective...) 100% (introducing yourself to the culture studied).

To analyze only from the outside (etic) would be to stay in the surface of what is intended to be studied, therefore, a balance must always be struck between the emic and the etic: the emic to understand the reason why a custom is carried out that may be irrational and ethical to find an explanation rational.

So that you understand more clearly what the emic-etic perspective is, we will explain it to you with the following examples:

1. The example of the cows exposed by Marvin Harris: From the emic perspective, cows in India are sacred animals (they must be cared for and respected) and any damage caused to them is penalized. However, from the ethical perspective of a person from another culture, cows are seen as food or financial gain and therefore could be harmed.
2. Marvin Harris's example of pigs: From the emic perspective of cultures such as the Arab or the Jewish, pigs cannot be eaten due to the religious taboo on them. However, from the ethical perspective, it is established that pork is not eaten because at the time it transmitted many diseases, because the geographical environment in which these cultures live is not suitable for their breeding (aridity and high temperatures) or because it is not profitable.
3. The discovery of America: From the emic perspective of Christopher Columbus and Isabel I of Castile, the maritime expansion company was not organized with the purpose of finding America and, in principle, they did not know that they had discovered America. However, from our current-etic perspective, we say that Columbus discovered America.
4. The conquest of America: Before the conquest of America we can find two emic perspectives and one etic. If we approach the emic perspectives, we have: 1) The vision of the Americans: At first they thought that the Castilians were gods and then they lived as their culture and customs were destroyed without finding an explanation. 2) The vision of the Castilians: they came to the conclusion that they were dealing with inferior people because they had a different religion and, therefore, For this, they believed that the opportune thing was to civilize them through the Catholic religion and introduce them to their culture. On the other hand, given this fact, today we have the ethical perspective drawn from the study and historical analysis.
5. The Bulls: From the emic perspective that some Spaniards may have, bullfighting is a festival and an art that must be protected. However, an outsider with an etic perspective will be able to understand that it is an irrational custom in which an animal suffers.