What do anthropologists mean by "cultural relativism"?

Question

What do anthropologists mean by "cultural relativism"? What does this concept imply about making ethical decisions concerning other cultures?

Answer 1

Cultural relativism relates to the idea that one culture's moral/legal/ethical code may not apply to another.  The idea is that we each view other cultures through the filter of the one we were raised in, therefore we have an inherent bias toward judgmentalism.  Who is to say which culture is 'better' or 'civilized'.  I know I'll get thumbs down for that.

The implications for ethical decisions about other cultures...that's tricky.  It depends on the question.  Most cultures will agree that murder is wrong.  The Aztecs saw sacrifice as a sacred duty.  There is also evidence that the Celts in The British Isles practiced this.  The current notion of sacred sacrifice has changed.  Men and women who 'give their lives' to religion sacrifice worldly goods, comforts, and practices.  

The main point is that humans live within the ethical framework of their own culture.  They view the ethical constructs of other culture through their own.  Is one better or worse just because it's different?

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Cultural relativism is an anthropological school of thought that started in the USA in the mid xx century based on the German anthropologist Franz Boas's teachings.

It's center line is that no culture can be judged based on the values of another, since values (moral, but also epistemic) are determined by culture and apply only to the culture that has created them.

This school of thought challenged previous beliefs that considered non western cultures as primitive, savage, etc.

Some cultural relativists like Margaret Mead considered this to mean that ethical values where also relative to the culture that produced them, so there would be no universal values that could be used as a parameter to distinguish right from wrong.