What is the difference between descriptive cultural relativism and ethical cultural relativism?

Question

What is the difference between descriptive cultural relativism and ethical cultural relativism?

Answer 1

They are rather conflated in people's minds now days.

Answer 2

Cultural relativism is the assertion that we should value all cultures on their own merits and consider their intrinsic value to the people involved.  This perspective, originally, was created to counterbalance the excessive Eurocentric and Americanized view in anthropology.

When obsessive P.C. rhetoric came along, there was an immediate obsession with language.  They did not care about human rights, which are universal and beyond culture or religion, but about words.  The idea that female genital mutilation was a barbaric crime was not offensive to them, (that, honour killings, polygamy and gender segregation was 'reflective of Saudi Arabian culture and its proper values)- though they insisted that if a guy asked a girl out on a date at work or school, it was sexual harassment.  Thus real feminism, real human rights and the benefits of Western civilization was lost on these people.  

I believe in a moderate immigration policy, affirmative action, a ban on hate literature, multiculturalism and bilingual education for minorities.  I hardly fit into the 'racist' category.  People should be colorblind.  Issues of war and national security are different.  Let's say I don't like Bush's policies for certain reasons--I am not going to claim it is American/Western society that did this, that all Americans hate Arabs, that Bush is a n**i, etc.  I will present reasonable, sound, solid, moderate arguments based on evidence and a thought process.  So to answer your question, to be ethical, anthropologists must respect the benefits of Western society without excusing present and recent atrocities.  They must respect and understand other cultures.  They must respect human rights and that includes human rights.  When I read that U.N. soldiers raped women in Darfur, I was horrified.  We can't be 'culturally neutral' or 'politically correct'.  We would be excusing this kind of thing if we did.

Answer 3

in descriptive cultural relativism you don't judge the cannibals for eating their neighbours, you just describe the stew they were cooked in.  ethical cultural relativism asks whether or not we can permit Afghani women to be allowed to go to market wearing a veil when there is lots of perfectly good maybeline that we can force them to buy.