Cultural Relativism: Understanding and Appreciating Different Cultures

This article discusses the concept of cultural relativism and its importance in understanding and appreciating different cultures. It explores the idea that cultural practices should be studied without bias and compares and contrasts different cultures to develop a broader perspective. The article also touches on ethical relativism and the impact of culture on human health. The cultural practice of polygamy is used as an example to illustrate the value and controversy surrounding cultural relativism.

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Cultural Relativism
This is an idea that someone should only get informed about the beliefs, practices, and
values of their own culture. It is worth noting for one to get told about the norms and beliefs of a
culture that they will not appreciate. Franz Boaz started it as axiomatic research in the early
twentieth century and was later advanced by his students. In 1887, Franz ignited the idea of
civilization not being absolute but rather relative.
There is a familiar source of social beliefs within specific cultures when people try to
adjust to modern life, and they get mocked by the given society for not appreciating their culture,
norms, and beliefs. Cultural practices refer to the articulation of culture in consideration of
traditional practices of a given group. The term can be applied to people who articulate the
traditional practices of any given culture. Cultural realism helps people to study, analyze and
internalize cultural practices of different cultures without the ego of their own culture. Bias
cannot interfere with the study of other people's culture because we cannot achieve much by not
recognizing that other people's culture is of no difference from ours apart from the practices and
beliefs (Hocut 96).
When one understands cultural relativism, they can interpret the beliefs and values of a
given culture with no bias, especially in the present world it can be applied to compare and
contrast different cultures and beliefs thereby developing a broad concept and perspective of

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culture. People will never learn cultures until they learn to appreciate other people’s culture and
assume that it is just like their culture. Culture describes a different way of living for different
human beings, and it can give us a clear way of how certain people live and do their things (De
Sa 104). Culture is essential to anthropologists or any other person who can appreciate the way
of a different culture because it gives more information about a particular ethnic group of people.
One can be able to understand how the group behaves, moral values and how they interact with
other people through learning of a different culture.
Ethical relativism is a theory just like other theories of different fields. Theories tell a lot
and have more of meaning when well internalized. The theory states that morality is just
incorporated with the culture of one society; we cannot have different moral and norms away
from the culture we understand and appreciate. Whether what is done is right or wrong is
determined by the moral and norms of a society (Hytönen 54). A wrong action has never existed!
This is because of different cultures, what varies here are norms, beliefs, and practices. An action
that is considered wrong in one culture can be the very right thing to practice in another culture.
Philosophers define cultural relativism as the idea that one's culture, beliefs, and practices should
be understood according to one culture and not being judged from a different culture.
Ethical culture is a religion centered according to ethics of certain groups, and it is not
theology that has a mission of encouraging respect within human beings and creating a good
world, that is what topologists try to achieve. They are after making the world better than they
see it; they value human respect to each other as a way of creating peace. Unfortunately, ethical
culture is not based on respect and rational world, and here members do all they can to ensure
personal ethics are developed in relation with other people's activities that value social justice
and environmental stewardship (Mouzelis n.p). What makes cultural relativism not correct is

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because they hold that a person's opinion within a defined culture is what determines the correct
thing and the right thing. It is more of a mistaken theory that there are no objectives by which the
normal society can get judged, this is because different culture is entitled to their own beliefs and
practices that they do accept them. According to this theory, it is less important to learn,
understand and appreciate the culture of a community which will not allow practices from a
different culture.
It is very safe and worthy to understand and accept other cultures, and this is because of
how cultures shape our identity and decide our behaviors. Cultural diversity can make us take the
way of a different culture, and it shapes our minds such that we can be in a position to
understand how a different culture is essential to our lives. Understanding one culture can make
us compare and integrate different cultures; therefore the present world appreciates cultural
diversity and makes it very important. In the current world, culture has influenced human health
at a greater extent, and culture has affected how people perceive health, illness, and death
(Social, the economic impact of cultural diversity, 46). There are beliefs about what causes a
given disease, what activities should be done to get good health and how disease and pain can be
expressed. Some beliefs make one get healed through ouch or seeing of a given object.
Cultural absolutism is a philosophical perception that makes a culture of a given
community to be ore supreme and of ethical values. Teaches the importance of ethnocentric
adherence to owns culture as a proper idea to everyone in today's society. Cultural relativism is
whereby a person does not judge a culture from their standards of right and wrong, reasonable
and not normal. Everybody should try to understand the practices and behavior of other groups.
Example of the theory in real life situation is not judging that pizza is disgusting but rather tries it
out and sees. Occasionally people have defined different things in a wrong a because of their

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perceptive about culture, and they only end up realizing that they are wrong with their
perspective and they need to change and adjust. This is something that could not be felt in the
past. No one did regret for judging a given idea because of obsession, and people had obsessed
with their own culture.
How could the world be with an obsession of culture? Who will understand one another? These
are automatic questions that tell how important it is to learn a given culture and appreciate before
making decisions. The world will never be a place to stay if everybody thinks that their culture is
the best way; human beings are made to learn new ideas every day. Ideas will never be exhausted
and therefore learning will never end.
Culture description
Taking polygamous as an example of a culture of other community, a man is allowed to
marry more than one woman. The culture that has is more practiced in non-westernized
countries; they find it to be exciting and a way of earning respect.
Value of the culture
Those men who have more than one woman are considered to be wise because they can
be able to make decisions in more than one house (Hytonen-Ng 1). As per my study, these
families end up well throughout the entire life, and men take care of their wives and children
without constraints. It has been witnessed by people marrying up to ten wives and managing to
take good care of them. The type of marriage means a lot to the culture of people who practice it;
first, those men who practice a polygamous type of marriage are considered wealthy because of
the value of dowry spent. They are considered to have leadership qualities, and this is so
interesting because there is truth behind it. How many divorces have we witnessed for people
who practice monogamy? They deserve to have leadership qualities because as per the research,

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the cases of divorce in polygamous families are very minimal. People practice polygamy to show
their prowess in leadership qualities.
As per the cultural community, these are men who are chosen to chair everything, and
more attention is given to what they say, their words are considered wise enough to keep more
than one wife in the same marriage without difficulties.
How people in this culture feel about it
This culture is not accepted by everybody in communities that practice them. People in
these communities do not agree with the marriage because they need to take care of their
children and maintain close supervision of them. Most children in polygamous family end up
losing moral uprightness, an aspect that occurs because they are not close to both of their parents.
Monogamous families take good care of their children, and the community feels there should be
love in marriage. Churches do not support the idea of marrying many wives because of spiritual
issues.
According to my own opinion, I find it difficult to perceive the idea of moral, cultural
relativism in such a practice. It is a practice that has not been adequately supported by the
community that practices it. The practice violates human rights whereby there is no love among
children. Just from this idea, I find it difficult to learn and appreciate other cultural practices, and
one requires sacrifice to appreciate and learn. Like the case of polygamous marriage, learning it
is something far from my mind, and I instead remain with my own culture. I don't realize the
importance of this culture in any given way apart from maturing leaders. The practice puts the
life of the woman at risk of hate rate from other fellow wives and can even cause incidences of
one killing another (Curran & Baird 88). Therefore, the idea of cultural relativism is worth but
only worth in observing and before giving suggestions not learning and appreciating.

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Works cited
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