What is cultural relativism?

Question

What is cultural relativism?

Answer 1

The principle that one's beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of one's own culture.

Answer 2

Cultural relativism is the principle that one's beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of one's own culture.Cultural relativism involves specific epistemological and methodological claims. Whether or not these claims necessitate a specific ethical stance is a matter of debate. This principle should not be confused with moral relativism

Answer 3

A simple definition of cultural relativism is that all cultures are equally valid in their own context. Different cultures see things differently.

Answer 4

There are two definitions. One for anthropology and one philosophical

The first: "Cultural relativism is an anthropological approach which posit that all cultures are of equal value and need to be studied from a neutral point of view. The study of a and/or any culture has to be done with a cold and neutral eye so that a particular culture can be understood at its own merits and not another culture’s"

http://www.utpa.edu/faculty/mglazer/Theo...

In brief, when you study a culture you must make sure to keep your own cultural values from contaminating your work.

The other is philosophical.  "Cultural relativism holds that "good" means what is "socially approved" by the majority in a given culture...Cultural relativists see morality as a product of culture. They think that societies disagree widely about morality, and that we have no clear way to resolve the differences. They conclude that there are no objective values. Cultural relativists view themselves as tolerant; they see other cultures, not as "wrong," but as "different."

http://www.jcu.edu/philosophy/gensler/et...

The first definition has a very important impact on the study of a culture. If you can't get by your own culture and evaluate the culture only in terms of your own, you're not going to get good data.