Examples Of Cultural Relativism

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Relativism is the conception that believes one’s value, behavior, belief and morality have no universal validity; all of them are equally valid and are related to other certain elements. Relativism is often associated with a normative position, usually pertaining to how people ought to regard or behave towards those with whom they morally disagree. (Stanford University, 2008) Cultural relativism is a theory that deals with the diversity among different cultures. It considers that people live in a particular cultural background and enrich their culture through particular communication and innovation within the society; every culture has its own unique developmental processes that are determined by its social environment and natural surroundings. To add with, cultural relativists also believe that there do not exists a universal evaluative grading standard to measure the value of culture due to the differences among them; therefore, no culture can be judged by the standard of other groups. Customs and behaviors of different societies are rational and reasonable in their own terms. All cultures should be viewed as equally able to fulfill the needs of their members. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010, p. 876) According to cultural relativism, a custom or a thought within a certain society cannot be simply judged as right or wrong, superior or inferior. For instance, a great number of Inuit groups leave their aging parents who are too old to shoulder their share of the workload out