Cultural relativism: Difference between revisions

ItThe concept was established as inby [[anthropology|anthropologicalanthropologist]] research by [[Franz Boas]], in the first few decades of the 20th century and later popularized by his students. Boaswho first articulated the idea in 1887: "civilization is not something absolute, but{{nbsp}}...{{nbsp}}is relative, and{{nbsp}}... our ideas and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes".<ref>[[Franz Boas|Boas, Franz]]. 1887. "Museums of Ethnology and their classification." ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]'' 9:589.</ref> However, Boas did not coinuse the termphrase "cultural relativism". The concept was spread by Boas' students, such as [[Robert Lowie]].

The first use of the term recorded in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' was by philosopher and social theorist [[Alain Locke]] in 1924 to describe [[Robert Lowie]]'s "extreme cultural relativism", found in the latter's 1917 book ''Culture and Ethnology''.<ref>Lowerie, Robert. 1917. ''[[iarchive:cultureethnology00lowiiala|Culture and Ethnology]]''. New York: Douglas C. McMurtrie.</ref>

The term became common among anthropologists after Boas' death in 1942, to express their synthesis of a number of ideas he had developed. Boas believed that the sweep of cultures, to be found in connection with any subspecies, is so vast and pervasive that there cannot be a relationship between culture and [[Race (classification of humans)|race]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utpa.edu/faculty/mglazer/Theory/cultural_relativism.htm |title=Cultural Relativism |last=Glazer |first=Mark |location=Texas |publisher=University of Texas-Pan American |date=December 16, 1994 |access-date=June 13, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613222929/http://www.utpa.edu/faculty/mglazer/Theory/cultural_relativism.htm |archive-date=June 13, 2007 }}</ref> Cultural relativism involves specific [[epistemology|epistemological]] and [[Methodology|methodological]] claims. Whether or not these claims necessitate a specific [[ethics|ethical]] stance is a matter of debate. Cultural relativism became popularized after World War II in reaction to historical events such as "Nazism, and to colonialism, ethnocentrism and racism more generally."<ref>{{cite book|author=Giuliana B. Prato|title=Beyond Multiculturalism: Views from Anthropology|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2016|page=5|isbn= 9781317174677|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJIGDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22cultural+relativism%22+colonial+multicultural&pg=PA5}}</ref>