Question

Ruth Benedict’s position on cultural relativism and her argument for it

Answer 1

Ruth Benedict argues that morality is culturally relative. She views the moral standards from the standpoint of cultural anthropology. For her, the standards that consider what is normal in a culture is a function of their social organization. She asserts that the standards vary among different societies and an action is considered normal if it matches with the expected behavior of a particular society. From this, she draws the conclusion that there cannot be a universal standard and majority of individuals in any cultural group are shaped into the fashion of their own cultural characteristic. To support her argument that moral standards are dependant on time and location, Benedict illustrated how various culture standards are different when it comes to homosexuality.