UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS- GRADE 11 HUMSS&ABM

Definition of Cultural Relativism in the Perspective of Sociology

LESSON 1: Definition of Cultural Relativism in the Perspective of Sociology

What you need to know?

According to Cole (2019), the concept of cultural relativism as we know and use it today was established
as an analytic tool by German-American anthropologist Franz Boas in the early 20th century. In the context
of early social science, cultural relativism became an important tool for pushing back on the ethnocentrism
that often tarnished research at that time, which was mostly conducted by white, wealthy, Western men,
and often focused on people of color, foreign indigenous populations, and persons of lower economic class
than the researcher.

WHAT IS CULTURAL RELATIVISM?

According to Khan Academy (2020), cultural relativism refers to not Judging a culture to our own standards
of what is right or wrong, strange or normal. Instead, we should try to understand cultural practices of other
groups in its own cultural context.
For example, in the Philippines, instead of thinking, “Fried grasshoppers (tipaklong) are disgusting!” one
should instead ask, “Why do some cultures eat fried insects?” You may learn that fried grasshoppers are
full of protein.

• In addition, cultural relativism wrongly claims that each culture has its own distinct but equally valid
mode of perception, thought, and choice. Cultural relativism, the opposite of the idea that moral
truth is universal and objective, contends there is no such thing as absolute right and wrong. There
is only right and wrong as specified by the moral code of each society. Within a particular society, a
standard of right and wrong can be inviolate. Cultural relativism maintains that man’s opinion within
a given culture defines what is right and wrong. (Younkins, 2000)

Relativism: A Brief History of an Old Idea

The English term “relativism” came into usage only in the 19th Century. John Grote was probably the first to
employ it when in Exploratio Philosophica (1865) he wrote:
The notion of the mask over the face of nature is…. what I have called “relativism”. If “the face of nature” is
reality, then the mask over it, which is what theory gives us, is so much deception, and that is what
relativism really comes to. (Grote 1865: I.xi, 229).

Its German counterpart, “Relativismus”, has a longer history. Wilhelm Traugott Krug, who succeeded Kant
in the University of Königsberg in his philosophical lexicon, defines it as:
“the assumption that everything which we experience and think (the self, the idea of reason, truth, morality,
religion etc.) is only something relative, and therefore has no essential endurance and no universal validity.
(Krug 2010 [1838]: 224)”

Although the term “relativism” is of recent coinage, doctrines and positions, with some of the hallmarks of
contemporary relativism, date back to the very beginnings of Western philosophy.

Example of Cultural Relativism:

1. Here in the Philippines, premarital sex is morally unacceptable. If go to another country, teenagers
want to lose their virginity at a young age.
2. Here in the Philippines, we do not cease to debate on the moral acceptability of contraceptives. In
another country, abortion is perfectly normal, more so the use of artificial contraceptives.
3. One society makes any prohibitions on women; while another society allows women to
have equal opportunities and obligations as men.

MS. JEAN ROSE G. GENTIZON

MODULE 3 (GROUP 2)
 UNDERSTANDING CULTURE, SOCIETY AND POLITICS- GRADE 11 HUMSS&ABM

LESSON 2: Importance of Cultural Relativism

• Cultural Relativism does not mean anything a culture or group of people believe is true.
Just because someone believes this to be true, doesn’t make it so.
• Cultural Relativism does not mean that anything a culture does is good or moral.
Some people might claim that we can never understand something
ecause it’s ‘cultural’.Not so. Some certain beliefs and practices are
objectively harmful
• Cultural Relativism doesn’t mean that cultures can’t be compared.
There is sometimes a strange notion that there are no commonalities
between cultures. It is true that there are very few universals across all
human experience, but there are definitely some core things that humans
all do, most of which relate to survival and continuity. But even in practices
that are entirely different, we can find comparison as a useful tool for
understanding ideas and points of view.

What’s something more?

• Cultural relativism is a vital tool in anthropology. As such, it does not claim to define right or wrong
behaviour. Instead, it is a device used to investigate different cultures without making judgments
about those cultures. Basically, it is a decision to understand an individual’s behaviour within the
context of that individual’s culture, instead of comparing it to another culture. For example,
archaeologists analyze pottery in the context of the culture, instead of strictly comparing it to pottery
of other areas. Language is investigated more carefully, taking into account sounds and inflections
not native to the researcher. And behaviour is compared to the culture and environment, showing
how mores and taboos came to be without judging those ethics. (Compelling Truth, 2020)

MS. JEAN ROSE G. GENTIZON

MODULE 3 (GROUP 2)