types of Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism is a concept that establishes that cultures are essentially different from each other, and so
are their moral structures and relation frameworks. In other words, cultural relativism is concerned with
understanding a culture based on its standings and not judging it with one's own culture. The idea behind
cultural relativism is to assist people in relating to different cultures that are not their own. Cultural relativism is
helpful because it leads to the appreciation of other peoples' way of life around the world.

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What is Cultural Relativism?
Fundamentally, cultural relativism is a moral theory that depicts what is appropriate relative to an individual's
culture. Therefore, this concept tries to address various ethical standings in different cultures. Using this
concept, cultural relativism aims to show that no culture is superior to the merits of morality or politics. Cultural
relativism is a concept that norms and values within a culture are developed according to a particular social
context.
Cultural relativism is a term that can be interpreted in different ways. First, this term can indicate no specific
standard for morality, and good and evil are relative to society. As a consequence, no decision of what is right
or wrong can be applicable across cultures. The moral norms and values are hence specific to a culture. Second,
the concept of ethics is also relative to individuals in different cultures. Therefore, as a generic meaning, the
idea of cultural relativism establishes and wants to elaborate the meaning of unfamiliar cultures and try to
comprehend some practices like eating insects.

There are two types of cultural relativism.

 Absolute cultural relativism indicates that whatever activities are practiced within a culture, no
matter how weird and dangerous they appear to be, should not be questioned by other cultures.
 Critical cultural relativism asks questions about cultural practices and why they are practiced. It
seeks answers about the cultural practices in line with who is accepting them and why they are doing
so.