Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativism, the principle that a culture's beliefs and practices should be understood in the context of that culture rather than judged against the standards of another, runs through Franz Boas's objection to the unilinear evolutionary ranking of societies that had dominated anthropology before him. Boas argued no cultural practice is more advanced or primitive in an absolute sense; each has to be read on its own terms first. The principle became foundational to twentieth century American anthropology and shaped the fieldwork practice, including participant observation, that Boas's students carried into the field.