sociology Cultural Relativism Archives - Sociology Learners https://www.sociologylearners.com/tag/sociology-cultural-relativism/ Knowledge Bank of Sociology Mon, 19 Mar 2018 16:01:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 129612039 What is Cultural Relativism? https://www.sociologylearners.com/what-is-cultural-relativism/ Mon, 19 Mar 2018 16:01:45 +0000 https://www.sociologylearners.com/?p=482 If we want or try to understand a foreign culture, it will not be possible if we do not keep our cultural norms, values and beliefs aside. If we don’t do it, it will create biasness in our judgment. We should contemplate their action in the light of their cultural values, norms and beliefs and […]

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]]> If we want or try to understand a foreign culture, it will not be possible if we do not keep our cultural norms, values and beliefs aside. If we don’t do it, it will create biasness in our judgment. We should contemplate their action in the light of their cultural values, norms and beliefs and in the environment they live in. therefore for understanding foreign culture we have to analyze it we have to apply the mode of the particular society in which that culture exist. A sociologist have to undergo some changes if he wants to understand the culture of a particular society, he have to change his attitude, values and motive according to the social system of society which he is studying . By learning the habits and values of the society he can understand the culture of given society.

For instance, the sati rite of Hindu culture seems to us very barbaric but, if we learn their values it will appear a fitted ritual for Hindu society. It’s common in Tibetan and Todas culture to practice polyandry which seems strange and immoral to us. Eskimos kill the old people who are unable to work. It’s the parts and trait of culture when all the traits integrate with one another it forms a complete culture and make complete sense. The cultural trait might be ethical in one society but not in other, it varies from society to society. If they withdraw from one trait the culture might collapse until they find substitute for that trait.

According to Horton and hunt, cultural relativism means that, each trait function and meaning is relative to a given culture, a trait can neither be considered good or bad but it is considered good or bad in a given culture in which it is functioning. 

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