Correct and Incorrect Applications for Cultural Relativism

In in the article The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, Ruth Benedict argues against cultural relativism because it is both useless and can lead to negative consequences in society. She says that while the teachings of cultural relativism can be useful, such as the idea that people should be more understanding of other culture’s customs and how most customs are not objectively right or wrong, but it should not be used in every day principle. However, Benedict believes that in less trivial matters, such as anything proven through science, that there is an objectively correct belief. She uses the example of the world being flat versus being round. While most cultures do believe the earth to be round some cultures believe it to be flat, and whether or not these cultures are right is not relative; the cultures that believe the world to be flat are objectively wrong. Benedict argues that without some idea of what is objectively right or wrong, then moral progress will never occur both between societies and within societies.

An example of the ongoing battle for and against cultural relativism are the differences in the treatment of women between Islamic and Western culture. In some cases, the differences between morality in women between the two cultures are relative and are neither right or wrong. Any way a woman dresses is neither right or wrong and there is no “universal truth” to how a woman should correctly clothe herself. Whether or not a woman should wear a hijab or a burka or nothing of the kind is only dependent on the cultures themselves and does not need to be applied to a universal accord. However, such matters as what a woman wears is trivial and there are many other aspects to the treatment of women in Islam, mainly in extremist groups, where an objective moral code should be used.

For many extremist groups in Islam, honor killings can be quite common. It is reported that around 1,000 women die in Pakistan due to honor killings despite the disapproval of such acts that are typically expressed in Islam. These acts are perpetrated to bring back honor that was supposedly lost by a “disgraced” family member. In extreme cases of Islam, the targets of such killings are typically women who disgrace their families in whatever way their families deem provocative. These acts are not in any way acceptable for the ideas of cultural relativity. Murdering someone for not living up to one’s expectations should never be accepted and should never be tolerated because it is moral in the culture where it is practiced. This also touches on Benedict’s opinion that all societies have universal morality on certain subjects, such as murder. These actions are not only disapproved by Western Society but also disapproved by most Muslims, therefore, honor killings do not deserve to be treated as a different custom by another culture, but as a crime against humanity that needs to be fixed.