What is the difference between emics and etics?

Question

How does this affect our understanding of language, kinship systems, and culture?

Answer 1

It is a very old but still useful distinction as to what set of parameters are taken into account in order to understand social reality.

You say that the observer is taking an etic perspective when he is considering the observed phenomena from the outside, trying to reach an objective view of things, that is, an understanding of things from his own set of rules and categories.

On the contrary, taking an emic perspective of things means that you are trying to see things as the observed does, from a subjective standing, regardless of your own values and ideas.

So lets say that for some people, the brothers of the mother are "ego's" fathers. From an etic perspective you would still say that ego relates to his uncles "as if" they were all ego's fathers, but from an emic perspective that would make no sense: they are ego's fathers.