Anthropology (ANTH) 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

Cultural relativism is the concept that behaviors, beliefs, and practices should be understood and evaluated based on the cultural context in which they occur, rather than judged against the criteria of another culture. This approach promotes the idea that all cultures possess their own values and norms that are equally valid, and encourages an understanding of these norms from the perspective of the culture itself.

By adopting cultural relativism, anthropologists and others in the field aim to foster greater understanding and tolerance of cultural diversity, acknowledging that practices that may appear strange or unacceptable from an outsider's view might hold significant meaning and relevance within the culture they originate from. This stance contrasts with ethnocentrism, which involves evaluating other cultures based on the standards of one’s own culture.

The other choices do not accurately represent this core idea of cultural relativism. The notion of a cultural universal involving symbols, or the idea of cultural particulars related to interrelatedness, while interesting, do not directly address the evaluative aspect of understanding cultures on their own terms. Additionally, the reference to participant observation relates to a methodological approach in anthropology, rather than a conceptual framework like cultural relativism.