Culture Shapes Our Beliefs and Behaviors
As an anthropologist who has spent countless hours immersed in various cultures around the globe, my travels have shown me firsthand that the way people act, think, and believe is deeply rooted in the specific environment and traditions they grew up with, leading me to a concept called “cultural relativism,” which suggests that what one culture considers right or wrong, good or bad, might be seen entirely differently by another, and that these differences are simply alternative approaches to life shaped by unique cultural norms and values, such as the contrasting views on arranged marriages, where some cultures see them as a normal and even preferred way to find a life partner, while others place great importance on individual choice in selecting a spouse.
Ethnocentrism: Judging Others Through Our Own Lens
Ethnocentrism, on the other hand, is the opposite of cultural relativism – it’s like viewing the entire world solely through the lens of your own culture and judging everyone else based on your own specific standards, much like a group of people who believe their way of eating is the only correct way and view everyone else’s food habits as strange or even barbaric, and it’s often a driving force behind colonialism, where a more powerful country takes control of another and imposes its own cultural beliefs and practices on the colonized people, leading to prejudice and discrimination by creating an “us” versus “them” mentality where “we” are always perceived as superior.
Moral Standards: Learned, Not Inherited
Consider moral standards, the rules we follow about what’s right and wrong – these aren’t something we’re born with but rather something we learn from our families, communities, and the broader society we live in, and just as fashion trends change over time, so too can moral principles within a society evolve, as we’ve seen with changing views on topics like divorce or same-sex marriage in many cultures over the years, and even within our own lifetimes, we might find our own moral compass shifting on certain issues as we gain new experiences and knowledge, demonstrating the flexibility and adaptability of moral principles and highlighting the significant influence culture has on shaping our beliefs.
Diverse Cultures, Diverse Moral Principles
Different societies develop different moral principles because each culture possesses its own unique history, environment, and social structure, influencing the values they prioritize, like societies with scarce resources where sharing and cooperation become essential for survival, in contrast to societies with abundant resources that might place more emphasis on individual achievement and competition, almost like playing a game with different rulebooks – each culture has its own set of guidelines for how people should behave and interact, extending even to seemingly simple things like rules of the house, where in some cultures, it’s considered rude to wear shoes inside, while in others, it’s perfectly acceptable, further illustrating how what’s considered “normal” or “polite” is highly dependent on the specific cultural context.
Are There Universal Ethical Standards?
This leads to the question of whether a universal set of ethical standards exists, and cultural relativism suggests that there isn’t one, proposing that each culture’s moral code is valid within its own specific context, which doesn’t mean that anything goes, but it does caution us against judging other cultures based solely on our own values, as seen with the concept of polygamy, where a person has more than one spouse, which is an accepted practice in some cultures but considered wrong in others, prompting cultural relativism to encourage understanding the reasons behind these differences rather than simply labeling one as right and the other as wrong.
The Challenge of Judging Other Cultures
The question of whether we can judge the behaviors of other cultures from a moral standpoint is complex, as accepting cultural relativism makes it problematic to judge other cultures based on our own moral standards, yet certain practices, like female genital mutilation or human sacrifice, are widely considered universally wrong, regardless of cultural context, often condemned by international human rights organizations, creating a tension between respecting cultural diversity and upholding fundamental human rights that apply to everyone.
Cultural Relativism in Everyday Life
Cultural relativism’s impact is visible in everyday life, from clothing norms, where in some cultures, people being naked in public would be considered inappropriate, while in others, it might be normal to wear clothing that covers fewer parts of the body, to attitudes towards premarital sex, which can vary greatly, being seen as natural in some cultures while considered taboo in previous generations of women within other cultures, and even with alcohol consumption, where some cultures embrace it while others view abstinence as a sign of respect, all demonstrating how cultural relativism plays out in various aspects of our lives.
Avoiding Ethnocentrism: Embracing Curiosity and Understanding
To avoid ethnocentrism when encountering cultural differences, we need to approach other cultures with a sense of curiosity and a willingness to learn, recognizing that our way is not the only way and striving to understand the perspectives of others, which doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing with everything but rather seeking to comprehend the reasons behind cultural practices that might seem strange or unfamiliar at first glance, like the practice of magic in some cultures, where magicians and religious leaders are respected for their knowledge and abilities, and while we might not personally believe in magic, we can still appreciate the role it plays within those cultures.
Cultural Relativism: A Path to Tolerance and Empathy
Cultural relativism serves as a valuable tool for understanding different cultures by reminding us that there are many diverse ways of being human, encouraging us to appreciate the richness of human experience and avoid judging other cultures based on our own limited viewpoints, and by embracing cultural relativism, we can build bridges of understanding and respect across cultures, even when disagreements on certain issues arise, much like how the worship of gods is respected in many cultures even by those who don’t personally worship any god or believe in their existence, demonstrating that we can respect the beliefs and practices of others even when they differ from our own, ultimately fostering tolerance and empathy, enabling us to navigate an increasingly interconnected world with greater understanding and sensitivity.