Cultural Relativism

Synonyms

Cultural context (Brown, 2008); Cultural subjectivity (Pauls, 2009); Cultural value systems (Brown, 2008); Enculturation (Baghramian & Carter, 2020)

Definition

Cultural relativism:

“The view that attitudes, behaviors, values, concepts, and achievements must be understood in the light of their own cultural milieu and not judged according to the standards of a different culture. In psychology, the relativist position questions the universal application of psychological theory, research, therapeutic techniques, and clinical approaches, because those used or developed in one culture may not be appropriate or applicable to another” (APA, 2022).

Cultural relativism:

Although for every culture some moral judgments are valid, no moral judgment is universally valid. Every moral judgment is culturally relative (Tilley, 2000).

Background

The origin of the term “cultural relativism” tends to be unclear; however, there exists some evidence to suggest that the term can be traced back to the...