DEFINITION OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM IN THE

PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGY

WHAT IS CULTURAL RELATIVISM?

ACCORDING TO KHAN ACADEMY (2020), CULTURAL
RELATIVISM REFERS TO NOT JUDGING A CULTURE TO
OUR OWN STANDARDS OF WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG,
STRANGE OR NORMAL. INSTEAD, WE SHOULD TRY TO
UNDERSTAND CULTURAL PRACTICES OF OTHER
GROUPS IN ITS OWN CULTURAL CONTEXT.
 FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE
PHILIPPINES, INSTEAD OF
THINKING, “FRIED GRASSHOPPERS
(TIPAKLONG) ARE DISGUSTING!”
ONE SHOULD INSTEAD ASK, “WHY
DO SOME CULTURES EAT FRIED
INSECTS?” YOU MAY LEARN THAT
FRIED GRASSHOPPERS ARE FULL
OF PROTEIN.
 IN ADDITION, CULTURAL RELATIVISM WRONGLY
CLAIMS THAT EACH CULTURE HAS ITS OWN
DISTINCT BUT EQUALLY VALID MODE OF
PERCEPTION, THOUGHT, AND CHOICE. CULTURAL
RELATIVISM, THE OPPOSITE OF THE IDEA THAT
MORAL TRUTH IS UNIVERSAL AND OBJECTIVE,
CONTENDS THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ABSOLUTE
RIGHT AND WRONG. THERE IS ONLY RIGHT AND
WRONG AS SPECIFIED BY THE MORAL CODE OF
EACH SOCIETY. WITHIN A PARTICULAR SOCIETY, A
STANDARD OF RIGHT AND WRONG CAN BE
INVIOLATE. CULTURAL RELATIVISM MAINTAINS
THAT MAN’S OPINION WITHIN A GIVEN CULTURE
DEFINES WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG. (YOUNKINS,
 IDEA
THE ENGLISH TERM “RELATIVISM” CAME
INTO USAGE ONLY IN THE 19TH CENTURY. JOHN
GROTE WAS PROBABLY THE FIRST TO EMPLOY
IT WHEN IN EXPLORATIO PHILOSOPHICA (1865)
HE WROTE:
THE NOTION OF THE MASK OVER THE FACE
OF NATURE IS…. WHAT I HAVE CALLED
“RELATIVISM”. IF “THE FACE OF NATURE” IS
REALITY, THEN THE MASK OVER IT, WHICH IS
WHAT THEORY GIVES US, IS SO MUCH
DECEPTION, AND THAT IS WHAT RELATIVISM
 ITS GERMAN COUNTERPART,
“RELATIVISMUS”, HAS A LONGER HISTORY.
WILHELM TRAUGOTT KRUG, WHO
SUCCEEDED KANT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF
KÖNIGSBERG IN HIS PHILOSOPHICAL
LEXICON, DEFINES IT AS:
“THE ASSUMPTION THAT EVERYTHING
WHICH WE EXPERIENCE AND THINK (THE
SELF, THE IDEA OF REASON, TRUTH,
MORALITY, RELIGION ETC.) IS ONLY
SOMETHING RELATIVE, AND THEREFORE
HAS NO ESSENTIAL ENDURANCE AND NO
 EXAMPLE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM:
1. HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES, PREMARITAL SEX IS
MORALLY UNACCEPTABLE. IF YOU GO TO ANOTHER
COUNTRY, TEENAGERS WANT TO LOSE THEIR VIRGINITY
AT A YOUNG AGE.
2. HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES, WE DO NOT CEASE TO
DEBATE ON THE MORAL ACCEPTABILITY OF
CONTRACEPTIVES. IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, ABORTION IS
PERFECTLY NORMAL, MORE SO THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL
CONTRACEPTIVES.
3. ONE SOCIETY MAKES ANY PROHIBITIONS ON WOMEN;
WHILE ANOTHER SOCIETY ALLOWS WOMEN TO
HAVE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND OBLIGATIONS AS MEN.
 IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL RELATIVISM
• CULTURAL RELATIVISM DOES NOT MEAN ANYTHING A
CULTURE OR GROUP OF PEOPLE BELIEVE IS TRUE.
JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE BELIEVES THIS TO BE TRUE, DOESN’T
MAKE IT SO.
• CULTURAL RELATIVISM DOES NOT MEAN THAT ANYTHING
A CULTURE DOES IS GOOD OR MORAL.
SOME PEOPLE MIGHT CLAIM THAT WE CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND
SOMETHING BECAUSE IT’S ‘CULTURAL’ NOT SO. SOME CERTAIN
BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ARE OBJECTIVELY HARMFUL.
• CULTURAL RELATIVISM DOESN’T MEAN THAT
CULTURES CAN’T BE COMPARED.
THERE IS SOMETIMES A STRANGE NOTION THAT
THERE ARE NO COMMONALITIES BETWEEN
CULTURES. IT IS TRUE THAT THERE ARE VERY
FEW UNIVERSALS ACROSS ALL HUMAN
EXPERIENCE, BUT THERE ARE DEFINITELY SOME
CORE THINGS THAT HUMANS ALL DO, MOST OF
WHICH RELATE TO SURVIVAL AND CONTINUITY.
BUT EVEN IN PRACTICES THAT ARE ENTIRELY
DIFFERENT, WE CAN FIND COMPARISON AS A
USEFUL TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING IDEAS AND
 WHAT’S SOMETHING MORE?

CULTURAL RELATIVISM IS A VITAL TOOL IN

ANTHROPOLOGY. AS SUCH, IT DOES NOT CLAIM
TO DEFINE RIGHT OR WRONG BEHAVIOR.
INSTEAD, IT IS A DEVICE USED TO INVESTIGATE
DIFFERENT CULTURES WITHOUT MAKING
JUDGMENTS ABOUT THOSE CULTURES.
BASICALLY, IT IS A DECISION TO UNDERSTAND AN
INDIVIDUAL’S BEHAVIOR WITHIN THE CONTEXT
OF THAT INDIVIDUAL’S CULTURE, INSTEAD OF
COMPARING IT TO ANOTHER CULTURE.