What is CULTURAL RELATIVISM? | UCLA Anthropology Student Explains & Defines Cultural Relativism

In this weeks video, I will be explaining and defining cultural relativism! Cultural relativism is a common approach to understanding cultures within the field of anthropology. Cultural relativism also exists in opposition to something called "ethnocentrism." In this video, I explain cultural relativism vs ethnocentrism as well as define cultural relativism on a broader scale. Do you have any good examples of cultural relativism you would like to share? Leave them in the comment section down below!
Who am I? My name is Alivia Brown and I am currently an undergraduate Anthropology student at UCLA on a mission to find a career that I love. My major does not have a straight forward "path" as many would say and I am not only determined to prove that I can be successful in my major but also demonstrate my ability to find a career that brings me joy. This is my journey to expanding my global and anthropological knowledge. This is my journey to finding the best career I can. This is my journey to finding happiness. This is my journey to success.
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[@opheliabeckkhan6365]

Love your anthropology vids! So interesting and informative

[@AliviaBrown]

This is so so sweet, thank you!! Means so much!!

[@jrshipley]

A lot depends on this definition. There's a weak and a strong reading of "should be understood." It could mean either "this is one important way of understanding." It could also mean "this is the only important way of understanding." Cultural relativism in the strong sense cannot be opposed to anything, including ethnocentrism, since it would imply that the only important way of understanding ethnocentrism is through the cultural lens of the enthnocentrist. To answer your closing question... Also "people do things differently" does not imply that "any way of doing things is as good as another." People drive on opposite sides of the road in different countries but this does not mean one must never criticize differences in laws or norms around driving. Some countries have very high road fatality rates compared to others. This has nothing to do with how conventions like which side to drive on are specified, of course. So it's perfectly consistent to think that there are some things where multiple different conventions are equally fine but also think that measures like road fatalities are cross-culturally normative.

[@anooshababar6062]

hey Alivia, please while watching your videos and looking how much of a passionate anthro student your are , i felt so blessed and relieved. gosh i dont know what to say, but i am a fourth year as well and your videos reallly help me revise all the anthropology stuff i studied or tried to study these last few years. I really want to do justice with this field and i am highly concerned about how i should approach the field of Anthropology once i am done with my degree. i just want to say i would really love it if you suggested some information about good grad schools for anthropology in America or overall. P.S. I am just gonna add that i am from Pakistan doing BS Anthropology, and i really want to Masters (grad degree) from an international university but seriously i have no prospect about how its gonna work . i hope im making sense and i would love it if you helped me. Thank you so much ❤❤

[@AliviaBrown]

Hello! This comment is so incredibly kind and sweet and I love hearing from anthropology students around the world (and Pakistan, how cool!). I have no doubt in my mind you will be able to do this field justice and am overjoyed to hear my videos were able to help you. I'm sending you luck and will add this request to my list. You got this!!

[@kimberlysiazar5833]

Hi, thanks for this video! I will share this to my students. Thank you so much!

[@AliviaBrown]

Of course!! I hope it helps!!

[@ishakhajanchi694]

Hi! I love your videos so much, I just had a question, that what are the negative aspects of cultural relativism, like at the end of the video you were telling that few practices that universally in humanity is not a good thing?

[@philosophy-of-science-and-law]

Interesting attempt to contrast ("vs") relativism from ethnocentricism, and forgive me, please, if my response is wholly contradictory, but I would contrast any relativism with universalism. In addition, I would say that any relativism seeks out other forms of relativism, and precisely in order to reject universalism. Ethnocentrism does not require contrasting universalism, and may not ever reject universalism, because meta-ethically speaking, ethnocentrism is a form of universalism.

[@Neleh13]

Very Helpful, thanks for this! Well described!!!!

[@AliviaBrown]

Of course!!

[@bimalshisadunika2874]

It was very clear and solved my doubt ..thank you❤

[@tondajackson-mdh-1772]

Thank you so much you explained it very well. love the vid.

[@AliviaBrown]

This made my day, I’m so glad!

[@niomiwhite4316]

I wish my professor in social and cultural anthropology was as passionate as you! Great video!

[@AliviaBrown]

This is so kind! Maybe one day I will be that professor haha. Thank you!!

[@universalcomputation6779]

In the definition of cultural relativism, the statement that "a person's beliefs and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture," it seems to me, we have a moral position being asserted. Why else use the words "should be" unless one is asserting a moral position in how to evaluate another person's actions? But if the claim is that we should always judge a person by the standards of the person's own culture, then we are asserting moral relativism based on a morally absolute statement, as the claim that we should always reference a person's culture is not a relative position, but a position that is supposed to apply in all cases. So, the moral-relativist position is founded on a self-refuting assumption. If cultural relativism is moral relativism in disguise, then it suffers from the same error. I basically reject the idea of cultural relativism and moral relativism, although I understand the spirit in which they are put forth --- one of promoting tolerance. However, if I judged the actions of the members of the White Rose who resisted Hitler by the larger Nazi culture in Germany at the time, I would be stating that they deserved to be executed for resisting Hitler. If there was a culture that condoned slavery, or child rape, then I would also have a hard time accepting such conduct as morally right, simply because a child-rapist was going along with the larger culture. I would consider the person who opposed slavery and/or child rape to be the person with the morally just position, regardless of the larger culture. Also, am I truly respecting a person if I judge that person by the culture in which they live in? People who resist the Chinese Communist Party in China, for example, may be considered criminals by the Chinese authorities, and large portions of the Chinese population in China, but why should I give their demands for freedom of speech any less consideration than I give the demand for freedom of speech by people who live in the USA? Either the demand for freedom of speech is morally just or it isn't. When it comes to differences in dressing styles, rituals on how people greet one another, I don't see these differences as problematic, because they are largely do not involve moral issues. When it comes to eating animals in different cultures, I can see how these differences are largely equivalent moral positions. But, when it comes to one culture allowing slavery, then I think it is morally wrong and should not be excused, simply because there is a culture that thinks slavery is okay.

[@janari64]

"At the beginning of the last century, Westermark made an assumption that would prove important for the anthropological understanding of the cultural attitude towards the expression of feelings, and according to which morality is based on feelings. there is no universal morality, that is, that morality is not an objective category, but a cultural product. Feelings as cultural products, therefore, have a role in constructing a moral community. Probably every community considers itself moral, in itself, but morality needs to be nurtured, that is, reaffirmed."

[@AliviaBrown]

Hello! First of all-I want to acknowledge that I appreciate how much time was put into this thoughtful response. And this is exactly what I was asking for at the end of my video! To what extent does cultural relativism apply? And at what point must we reconsider the assumptions set forth by this approach to understanding cultures around the world? You bring up some amazing points of discussion, so thank you.

[@AliviaBrown]

Such a great quote!!

[@universalcomputation6779]

@@janari64 All you did was quote someone who made an assertion. That's not even an argument. So, let me ask you this? Would you knowingly believe in a system of moral belief that is either logically inconsistent or is contradicted by external evidence? If yes, then aren't you then accepting morality as being objective, even if it is not real, along the same lines as mathematics? If no, then aren't you then taking a position where lies are as valid as the truth, and isn't that an anti-scientific position as science takes the position that truth does matter?

[@janari64]

@@universalcomputation6779 I think you are confusing the humanities and social sciences with the natural sciences. The human biophysical corporeality is not the same as the social / cultural corporeality. Human sensitivity, as a biological given, is culturally produced in that way and without the existence of affect as a physiological stimulus for the appearance and expression of feelings. An important feature of the cultural production of feelings, more precisely - the cultural attitude towards the public expression of feelings - is their connection with morality. Public behavior in any environment is direct behavior, that which most people take for granted, which they consider normal in two senses: as what corresponds to the cultural norm, that is, to the values ​​of a given community, and as what is natural. Showing empathy in contemporary Western cultures, as well as expressing disgust towards violence, for example, is part of moral behavior in those environments. I would dare to note that terms such as "objectivity, logic" are also cultural products. Western culture is not a universal culture. I would agree with my colleague Alivia Brown, our job is to deconstruct the culture, to better understand it.

[@steventorres967]

love it!

[@hottake4605]

Thanks Alivia, it's a interesting topic, I seem to have found different definitions for this one being that morality is not absolute and I do agree that preconceptions skew our understanding of a culture, both ideas are incomplete. I think we would both agree that cannibalism should not be normalized and that eating only with chopsticks can be rather restrictive lol.

[@AliviaBrown]

Hello! Yes, this is exactly the discussion I was getting at during the end of this video. At what point does something move from being moral to immoral? And who decided what is "good" and "bad"? And of course there are sweeping norms that many cultures would and do agree on. Cultural relativism can move from anthropology to philosophy incredibly quickly haha. Thank you for this perspective!

[@hottake4605]

@@AliviaBrown Appreciate the comment and I agree, it's just as you mentioned how far does this idea of Cultural Relativism extend? This idea in academia currently seems to be applied to the very definitions we both like to use at the beginning of videos, what is the 'right and wrong' definition who defines words? this political & philosophical implication has really hindered the voice of Biological Anthropology in society. A balanced approach may seem revolutionary but I'm all for it haha.

[@kanika__12]

Thankyou so much siso love you ❤❤❤❤

[@chukwuchizaram5064]

Please who are the opponents of Cultural relativism

[@janari64]

"The human world is a world of culture. Culture is based on uniquely to the human ability to categorize one's experiences, to give symbolic meanings to those experiences, and to teach others such abstractions as they represent symbolic meanings." Where are the boundaries of the particular and where the universal in culture? What theories do we use when researching human groups? 🤔

[@AliviaBrown]

This comment is so multifaceted and could be taken in many different directions but I would first want to acknowledge that you are absolutely correct-culture is not just one thing and any attempt to understand it completely will depend on many different variables. As anthropologists, we must try our best to deconstruct culture and therefore understand culture around the world. No method is perfect, but we have to keep trying!

[@janari64]

@@AliviaBrown Ehhhh, kultura 🙂 I would say that human humanity, and with it culture, does not rest solely on the possibility of communication, but on the need to do so. All the best on the videos 🙂 p.s. English is not my personal language, I apologize for typos 😊

[@AliviaBrown]

@@janari64 No problem. Thank you for sharing!!

[@tolowokere]

Won't this attitude of relativism lead to a dead end? More to the point, don't your comments towards the end of the video undermine much (*not all*) of what you said at its beginning? What I'm trying to say is that if cultural relativism is as you've described then it might be better replaced by something else. Afterall, if I recognize discourse among cultures, or practical limitations imposed by geography (such as proximity to trading ports), or fauna (predators, prey, pests, etc.), or flora or any number of things, as profound influences on shaping a culture, then instead of relativism we should have curiosity. Curiosity, not because we want to avoid making judgements, but so that we can make more informed and wiser judgements, and not make cruel or unempathetic conclusions about another culture. In this way it's possible that we can enjoy food, music, literature, and expand our understanding of science and philosophy through the religions, jurisprudence, mathematics or pharmacology of other cultures while simultaneously condemning child sacrifice, or clitorectomies, or actual pseudoscience (for instance, rubbing oil into open wounds to heal them).

[@jackalofpool]

Has the been a study done on feral humans that have no culture whatsoever

[@zel3888]

No Alivia, not everything is relative. In 1829 the first British governor of India, Lord William Bentwick, introduced the death penalty for anybody participating in Sati - the practice of Indian widows being burned alive on their husbands' funeral pyres. Was that cultural custom 'a-OK'? Alivia? In what is now Latin America, the Aztecs practiced mass human sacrifice; others practiced canibalism. Some cultures are objectively better than others.

[@carbonc6065]

Nice ... But I'm surprised you didn't mention Clifford Gertz.

[@akashmitra9201]

Hey Alivia, they way you explain makes the concept clear thanks for that