cultural relativity

noun

Sociology.

1. a concept that cultural norms and values derive their meaning within a specific social context.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cultural relativity¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

If you walk around campus at Washington and Lee University, my alma mater, you’ll see everything you’d expect from an elite liberal arts college in rural America: idyllic red brick buildings juxtaposed against a perfectly manicured green lawn, a mostly white student body exchanging laughs as they happily mingle on school grounds, a mix of old and nascent intellectuals debating the merits of “cultural relativity” in an interventionalist world.

Read more on Washington Post

But there is another crucial aspect to using the scales – what Meyer calls “cultural relativity”. 

Read more on Forbes

And yet, against all the odds, this is a fascinating show -- one of the most curious spectacles of cultural relativity in recent memory.

Read more on Time Magazine Archive

The exhibition contains some sharp reminders of cultural relativity.

Read more on Time Magazine Archive