CULTURAL RELATIVISM           
- MARK GLAZER

After reading about Cultural Relativism written by Mark Glazer, I understood that cultural relativism is a very important factor if we want to live in a society where we can share unity and harmony. Cultural relativism according to me means that no culture is superior to any other culture when comparing system of mortality, behaviour, law, gender, caste, religions etc. We should never judge other cultures. We should pay equal respect to all the cultures no matter how different they are from ours. Like Mark Glazer said; "good and are culturally specific and cannot be imposed in cultural analysis." I definetly agree by this statement because what is good in one's culture may not be bad in other cultures. Also, cultural relativism is the philosophical belief that all cultural views are equally valid. What we regard to be true, valued and expected in our social system or environment may not be so in another. Instead of going against their cultural traditions, we should support them and make them feel that we all belong together.

Lets take an example of cultural relativism, say a dog is believed to be the most loyal animal and is also known as "A man's best friend". We all love dogs, I mean who doesn't ? But in some places like in the eastern part of india, like Manipur, Nagaland etc they consider dog to be a food and enjoy feasting on them. It might sound awfully depressing to us but that is part of their culture where we have no right to judge the dog- eating to be "right" or "wrong", because there is no "right" or "wrong". We all should believe that each culture must be understood with neutrality and respect.

Lastly, I would like to conclude by saying that we should all believe that all cultures are worthy in their own right and are of equal value. We should give respect if we want to earn respect.

Thank-you :)

Images taken from google images.