African American Culture Culture is not a fixed phenomenon, nor is it the same in all places or to all people. It is relative
             to time, place, and particular people. Learning about other people can help us to understand ourselves and to be better world
             citizens. One of the most common ways of studying culture is to focus on the differences within and among cultures. Although
             their specifics may vary form one culture to another, sociologists refer to those elements or characteristics that can be found
             in every know society as cultural universals. For example, in all societies, funeral rites include expression of grief, disposing of
             the dead, and rituals that define the relations of the dead with the living. And on the most significant cultural universals is the
             incest taboo, a cultural norm prohibiting marriage or sexual relations between certain kin. Whether the underlying basis of
             human behavior is biological or purely learned, how we channel that behavior is an important aspect of culture. From the time
             we are born, we are socialized to believe that our way of life is one that is good, civilized, and above reproach. Such ideals
             usually sets the tone for what sociologist would refer to as ethnocentrism, the attitude that one's own culture is superior to
             those of others. Though it exists from one degree or another in every society, it may also serve as the glue that holds a society
             together. In the event that ethnocentrism is taken out of context or has reached an offensive tone, it may be suppressed with
             cultural relativism, the belief that a culture must be understood on its own terms. From the African American perspective,
             culture encompasses all we know, all we feel, and all we have absorbed from our elders (whippings, the teaching of
             specialized skills, living within your blackness, etc.). Every Black experience is shared by all, however, there are links in our
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