To navigate our increasingly interconnected world, it is crucial to understand the forces that shape human behavior and belief systems. This begins with a fundamental question: What is culture? Culture can be defined as the shared values, beliefs, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that characterize a group or society. It is the lens through which we perceive reality, a concept often explored through the difference between culture and society—where society refers to the people who share a common culture. When we encounter ways of life different from our own, we are often confronted with two opposing viewpoints: ethnocentrism and cultural relativism.

Cultural relativism is an approach that asserts that the study of other cultures must be carried out empathetically, with a deep appreciation for the importance of cultural context. In other words, each culture has its own particularities, and no one culture is superior to another. It consists of studying other cultures while abandoning the perspective imposed on us by our own culture and worldview.

Until practically the 20th century, most analyses of other societies were carried out with the ethnocentric assumption that one’s own culture was the best and most desirable. This meant that many conclusions obtained through research painted other societies as strange or inferior. This led to the belief that only one’s own culture’s approach was correct. Cultural relativism directly opposes this view in cultural research and assessments, providing a framework for how to understand a different culture. From this viewpoint, practices are simply considered different, but neither better nor worse. This is understandable, since each culture has developed over centuries, influenced by factors like climate, resources, and technological advances.

The Challenge of Culture Shock

Anyone who has traveled or lived abroad has likely experienced the personal impact of cultural differences. This disorientation is known as culture shock. The culture shock definition is the feeling of confusion, anxiety, or disorientation experienced when someone is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes. To explain culture shock simply, it’s the personal struggle that arises when your own cultural norms no longer apply. The first step in how to overcome culture shock is acknowledging that these feelings are normal and using the principles of cultural relativism to observe and learn without immediate judgment.

Ethnocentrism vs. Cultural Relativism: A Tale of Two Perspectives

To truly grasp cultural relativism, it is essential to contrast it with its opposite. The core debate of ethnocentrism vs cultural relativism highlights two fundamentally different ways of seeing the world.

• Definition of Ethnocentrism: Ethnocentrism is the act of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own. It is the belief that one’s own group is superior to others. This viewpoint often leads to prejudice and misunderstanding. But is ethnocentrism good or bad? While it can foster group solidarity and national pride, the answer to “why is ethnocentrism bad?” is that it can lead to conflict, discrimination, and a refusal to appreciate the richness of human diversity. From an ethnocentric viewpoint, a desirable option may be the invasion, expansion, and imposition of one’s culture on others.
• Cultural Relativism: In contrast, cultural relativism encourages us to suspend our own judgments in order to understand the logic and values of another culture. It is a vital methodological tool in the social sciences, essential for how to avoid judging other cultures.

However, this raises difficult questions. One of the major problems with cultural relativism emerges when it is applied to universal moral issues. The relationship between cultural relativism and human rights is particularly fraught. If a culture’s practices include slavery, torture, or the oppression of a particular group, does cultural relativism require us to accept them? Most anthropologists and ethicists argue no, stating that while we must understand the context of such practices, we are not required to condone actions that violate universal human rights.

Does Language Shape Reality? The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The deep language and culture relationship offers a powerful illustration of cultural relativism. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis posits that the structure of a language affects its speakers’ worldview and cognition. In essence, it explores how language affects thought. A key component of this is linguistic relativism explained: the idea that the language we speak influences how we think about reality.

For example, the Hopi language concept of time is vastly different from that in English; it treats time not as a divisible line of past-present-future but as an ongoing, cyclical process. Similarly, the popular (though sometimes exaggerated) example of Inuit words for snow suggests that having a rich vocabulary for a specific phenomenon allows one to perceive it with more nuance. These examples force us to ask: Does language shape reality? While it may not create reality, it undoubtedly provides the framework through which we interpret it.

Examples of Cultural Norms and Relativism in Practice

To understand what this concept means in concrete terms, let’s look at several cultural norms examples that may seem strange from an outside perspective but are perfectly logical within their own context.

• Food and Diet: Many Westerners are repulsed by the idea of eating insects, but eating insects culture is widespread globally. The question of why do some cultures eat fried crickets is easily answered by context: they are an abundant, sustainable, and nutritious source of protein. Judging other cultures’ food without understanding its context is a classic example of ethnocentrism. Similarly, in Chinese medicine, hot and cold foods are categorized not by temperature but by the energy they are believed to impart to the body.
• Public Behavior: There are significant cultural differences in public spaces. For example, the rules for sitting next to a stranger on a bus vary wildly. In some cultures, it’s polite to leave a space, while in others, it is normal to use any available seat. Another example is staring in public; China and other collectivist cultures may have different norms around eye contact and personal space than individualistic Western cultures. Understanding this bus etiquette in different cultures can prevent misunderstandings.
• Social Structures: Even within a single country, subcultures exist with their own norms. A classic example is American high school cliques explained: groups like “jocks,” “nerds,” and “goths” form their own micro-cultures with distinct values, clothing (examples of cultural objects), and language. More recently, the rise of Internet culture has created global communities with their own memes, etiquette, and shared understanding.
• Traditions and Practices: Controversial practices like whaling can also be viewed through this lens. Asking why is whaling a cultural practice for certain Indigenous communities reveals deep historical, spiritual, and subsistence traditions that predate modern conservation movements. While this doesn’t resolve the ethical debate, it adds crucial context.

Cultural relativism requires us to understand that these practices, from bowing in Japan to polygamy in other societies, are not inherently better or worse—they are simply different, born from unique historical and social journeys.