Anthropological concept that requires one's behaviors to be understood in cultural context
Not to be confused with Moral relativism.
Part of a series on
Anthropology
Outline
History
Types
Archaeological
Biological
Cultural
Linguistic
Social
Archaeological
Aerial
Aviation
Battlefield
Biblical
Bioarchaeological
Environmental
Ethnoarchaeological
Experiential
Feminist
Forensic
Maritime
Paleoethnobotanical
Zooarchaeological
Biological
Anthrozoological
Biocultural
Evolutionary
Forensic
Molecular
Neurological
Nutritional
Paleoanthropological
Primatological
Social
Cultural
Applied
Art
Cognitive
Cyborg
Development
Digital
Ecological
Environmental
Economic
Political economy
Feminist
Food
Historical
Institutional
Kinship
Legal
Media
Medical
Museums
Musical
Political
Psychological
Public
Religion
Symbolic
Transpersonal
Urban
Visual
Linguistic
Anthropological
Descriptive
Ethnological
Ethnopoetical
Historical
Semiotic
Sociological
Research framework
Anthropometry
Ethnography
cyber
Ethnology
Cross-cultural comparison
Participant observation
Holism
Reflexivity
Thick description
Cultural relativism
Ethnocentrism
Emic and etic
Key concepts
Culture
Development
Ethnicity
Evolution
sociocultural
Gender
Kinship and descent
Meme
Prehistory
Race
Society
Value
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Key theories
Actor–network theory
Alliance theory
Cross-cultural studies
Cultural materialism
Culture theory
Diffusionism
Feminism
Historical particularism
Boasian anthropology
Functionalism
Interpretive
Performance studies
Political economy
Practice theory
Structuralism
Post-structuralism
Systems theory
Lists
Anthropologists by nationality
Anthropology by year
Bibliography
Journals
List of indigenous peoples
Organizations
v
t
e
Cultural relativism is the position that there is no universal standard to measure cultures by, and that all cultural values and beliefs must be understood relative to their cultural context, and not judged based on outside norms and values. Proponents of cultural relativism also tend to argue that the norms and values of one culture should not be evaluated using the norms and values of another.[1]
The concept was established by anthropologist Franz Boas, who first articulated the idea in 1887: "civilization is not something absolute, but...is relative, and... our ideas and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes".[2] However, Boas did not use the phrase "cultural relativism". The concept was spread by Boas' students, such as Robert Lowie.
The first use of the term recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary was by philosopher and social theorist Alain Locke in 1924 to describe Lowie's "extreme cultural relativism", found in the latter's 1917 book Culture and Ethnology.[3]
The term became common among anthropologists after Boas' death in 1942, to express their synthesis of a number of ideas he had developed. Boas believed that the sweep of cultures, to be found in connection with any subspecies, is so vast and pervasive that there cannot be a relationship between culture and race.[4] Cultural relativism involves specific epistemological and methodological claims. Whether or not these claims necessitate a specific ethical stance is a matter of debate. Cultural relativism became popularized after World War II in reaction to historical events such as "Nazism, and to colonialism, ethnocentrism and racism more generally."[5]
^"Cultural relativism". The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential. 12 December 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
^Boas, Franz. 1887. "Museums of Ethnology and their classification." Science 9:589.
^Lowerie, Robert. 1917. Culture and Ethnology. New York: Douglas C. McMurtrie.
^Glazer, Mark (December 16, 1994). "Cultural Relativism". Texas: University of Texas-Pan American. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved June 13, 2007.
^Giuliana B. Prato (2016). Beyond Multiculturalism: Views from Anthropology. Routledge. p. 5. ISBN 9781317174677.
and 29 Related for: Cultural relativism information
Culturalrelativism is the position that there is no universal standard to measure cultures by, and that all cultural values and beliefs must be understood...
or a culture (culturalrelativism). Some forms of relativism also bear a resemblance to philosophical skepticism. Descriptive relativism seeks to describe...
Moral relativism or ethical relativism (often reformulated as relativist ethics or relativist morality) is used to describe several philosophical positions...
terms. Such ethnographers and their students promoted the idea of "culturalrelativism", the view that one can only understand another person's beliefs...
varieties of culturalrelativism in anthropology, see Spiro, Melford E. (1987) "Some Reflections on Cultural Determinism and Relativism with Special Reference...
geographical location, state, race or culture they belong to. Proponents of culturalrelativism suggest that human rights are not all universal, and indeed conflict...
indicate a negative connotation. The opposite of ethnocentrism is culturalrelativism, a guiding philosophy stating that the best way to understand a different...
Cultural Bolshevism (German: Kulturbolschewismus), sometimes referred to specifically as art Bolshevism, music Bolshevism or sexual Bolshevism, was a term...
Factual relativism (also called epistemic relativism, epistemological relativism, alethic relativism, and cognitive relativism) argues that truth is relative...
culture"), or a counterculture. Within cultural anthropology, the ideology and analytical stance of culturalrelativism hold that cultures cannot easily be...
A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification...
In cultural anthropology and cultural geography, cultural diffusion, as conceptualized by Leo Frobenius in his 1897/98 publication Der westafrikanische...
Cultural globalization refers to the transmission of ideas, meanings and values around the world in such a way as to extend and intensify social relations...
its environment delineated a contextualized social framework for culturalrelativism. Since we exist in webs of significance and the objective analysis...
Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture...
Cultural Christians are the nonreligious or non-practicing Christians who received Christian values and appreciate Christian culture. As such, these individuals...
Cultural tourism is a type of tourism in which the visitor's essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the cultural attractions...
Cultural assimilation Cultural behavior Cultural diversity Cultural identity Cultural intelligence Cultural pluralism Culturalrelativism Intercultural learning...
Cultural history records and interprets past events involving human beings through the social, cultural, and political milieu of or relating to the arts...
between material culture and non-material culture is known as cultural lag. The term cultural lag refers to the notion that culture takes time to catch up...
Cultural nationalism is a term used by scholars of nationalism to describe efforts among intellectuals to promote the formation of national communities...
anthropology" (PART II: Chapter 7). In Pinxten, Rik (ed.). Universalism Versus Relativism in Language and Thought. The Hague: De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 9783110805826...
Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages...
In the field of sociology, cultural capital comprises the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of dress, social capital...
In anthropology and geography, a cultural area, cultural region, cultural sphere, or culture area refers to a geography with one relatively homogeneous...
Cultural liberalism is a social philosophy which expresses the social dimension of liberalism and advocates the freedom of individuals to choose whether...
Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture. It has a variety of meanings in different contexts, sometimes...
A cultural movement is a change in the way a number of different disciplines approach their work. This embodies all art forms, the sciences, and philosophies...
Global Information