CULTURAL RELATIVISM

Things to Remember:
- Definition
- Ethnocentrism
- William Ogburn’s Theory of Social or Cultural Change
a. Invention
b. Discovery
c. Diffusion
- Trade-offs of Cultural Relativism
- Differences in Culture
o Man-made
o Natural
- How to Practice
o Openness to unfamiliar values and norms
o Suspending our cultural standards
o Decide your stance on the issue based on the facts and your values
- The Case for Cultural Universals
 - Definitions
o The thesis that one must suspend judgement of other people’s practices in
order to understand them in their own cultural terms (Haviland, 2005)
o Not judging a culture but trying to understand it on its own terms (Henslin,
2017)
o The practice of judging a society or culture by its own standards
o Primary goal of seeing culture of other groups of people as unique and
useful in the development and continuation of their ways of life
- Ethnocentrism
o The practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own
culture
o Disadvantage
 Failing to learn beneficial practices that may help us from other
cultures
 Misinterpretation of other cultures
 Culture superiority complex
- William Ogburn’s Theory of Social or Cultural Change (Founded on Technology)

1. Invention
- Creating new cultural elements; combining existing elements and materials to form new
ones
2. Discovery
- Recognizing and understanding more fully something already in existence; a new way of
seeing reality
- Finding new potential uses of invented products
- Seeing reality in novel ways that promote varied ways of thinking about and interacting
with the environment
3. Diffusion
- The spread of cultural traits from one society to another; the spread of invention or
discovery from one area to another
- Process wherein cultural traits from other groups of people are made available to other
groups in different places

Examples

INVENTION DISCOVERY DIFFUSION

1. Plow 2. Carabao can be used 3. Spread in different
to pull the plow regions to use in
agriculture
1. Cellphone 2. Added apps and 3. Marketed to
features consumers
- Trade-offs of Cultural Relativism
o “The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights”
o Cultural relativism problem is in understanding that all cultures are equal
o Ex: Seppuku in Japan, Widow-burning in India and eating with hands in Asia may
be looked down upon by some
- Human rights stem from Judeo-Christianity
- Differences in Culture
o Man-made
 Technology
o Natural
 Geography or natural environment

- How to Practice Cultural Relativism

i. Openness to unfamiliar values and norms
ii. Suspending our cultural standards
iii. Decide your stance on the issue based on the facts and your values

- The Case for Cultural Universals

i. A value, norm or other cultural traits that is found in every group
ii. “Specific customs differ from one group to another”
iii. Doesn’t exist
iv. Actions may look similar but meaning is different
v. Ex: marriage proposals and funerals may be expressed differently in
various cultures
vi. Notion that there exists commonalities of behavior and belief found in
different societies