The position that elements of a culture should be viewed and understood on their own terms rather than in terms of some assumed universal standard that holds across cultures is called

Question

Social Studies

Brenden Boyle

19 November, 03:33

The position that elements of a culture should be viewed and understood on their own terms rather than in terms of some assumed universal standard that holds across cultures is called

+3

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Cesar Browning · Answer 1

The position that elements of a culture should be viewed and understood on their own terms rather than in terms of some assumed universal standard that holds across cultures is called cultural relativism.

Explanation:

Cultural relativism refers to the idea that a people's behaviors, values, beliefs, and practices must be understood within that people's culture, instead of being judged by others according to the standards a different culture. For instance, when missionaries first arrived in Africa with the purpose of "educating" and "civilizing" the natives, they were shocked by those natives' nudity - especially the women's. Those missionaries were clearly not practicing cultural relativism. They were judging those people according to their own European/Christian standards, seeing nudity as a sin. Had they been more open-minded, they would have learned about the natives culture, and understood that it was not a sinful behavior to them.