Cultural Relativism: All Cultures are Equally Valuable
For much of history, Western societies viewed themselves as the pinnacle of human development — rational, modern, and civilized — while others were seen as “primitive,” poor, or even backwards. This hierarchical mindset placed Europe at the top and “the rest” somewhere below, often used to justify colonization, missionizing, and a whole lot of bad travel writing.
Cultural relativism is a concept that can be applied in many different ways. This is not a theoretical, analytical approach to the concept, but how we position ourself when we travel and how we travel with respect and gain insight about the world.
Cultural Relativism: Rethinking What Makes a Society “Advanced” or “Civilized”
Some of the wisest people I’ve met on my travels never went to school. They’ve lived in deep connection with nature, built their homes by hand, and sourced food from the jungle using skills passed down for generations. That kind of life builds resilience, presence, and knowledge no textbook can replicate. These have also been people with the kindest hearts, full of warmth, compassion and hospitality. They may have little, but give generously.
And yet, many (not all) in the West see such people as primitive — simply because they don’t own cars, tech, or bank accounts.
I’ve had countless conversations with people who judge other cultures through a Western lens, and watched tourists move through Asia with no sense of humility or respect.
But measuring other societies by our own standards is ignorance in practice.
Cultural relativism — a concept from anthropology over a century ago — reminds us:
No culture is inherently better than another.
Every way of life has its wisdom and its flaws.
What we need is less superiority, and more curiosity.
Franz Boas: Fieldwork and the Birth of Cultural Relativism
Caption: Franz Boas posing for figure in US Natural History Museum exhibit entitled "Hamats'a coming out of secret room" 1895 or before. Courtesy of National Anthropology Archives.
Franz Boas’s, “the father of anthropology”, commitment to cultural relativism was deeply shaped by his own first-hand fieldwork. In the 1880s, he conducted extended ethnographic research among the Inuit of Baffin Island and later with the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw) people of the Pacific Northwest. These experiences revealed to him that cultural practices which might seem “irrational” or “primitive” from a Western perspective were, in fact, deeply logical and meaningful within their own cultural contexts. Boas discovered that the natives were “experts” and highly skilled in their environment.
Through direct observation and immersion, Boas came to understand that no culture is inherently superior to another—each must be studied in its own terms. This field-based, empirical approach stood in sharp contrast to the speculative “armchair anthropology” of his time and laid the foundation for the modern discipline’s emphasis on participant observation and contextual understanding.
This challenged not only colonial thinking, but also the exoticized lens known as orientalism, which portrayed non-Western societies as mysterious, irrational, and somehow “other.”
Definition of Cultural Relativism
“Cultural relativism is the view that ethical and social standards reflect the cultural context from which they are derived. Cultural relativists uphold that cultures differ fundamentally from one another, and so do the moral frameworks that structure relations within different societies.”
www.carnegiecouncil.org
How can Travelers Learn from Cultural Relativism?
For travelers, cultural relativism invites a shift in mindset from ethnocentric to cultural relativism: instead of seeing people as poor, underdeveloped, or stuck in time, we begin to see the rich knowledge, values, and skills people develop in their own worlds. A mountain monk may not own a phone, but might carry centuries of wisdom about silence, suffering, and self. A rice farmer may not speak your language, but could teach you more about patience, timing, and soil than any university course. Cultural relativism, at its core, is an invitation to travel with humility — and to recognize brilliance where the world once saw only “lack.”
Caption: Illustration of two different mindset, ethnocentrism and cultural relativism. In social anthropology, viewing other cultures and people as primitive and western cultures as top of the hierarchy is an idea that died long time ago. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon that people in the west view themselves as better than the rest.
The Moral Baggage of a Curious Traveler
Travel challenges not just our comfort zones, but our moral assumptions. What seems right, wrong, polite or strange is often shaped more by culture than by universal truth. Cultural relativism doesn’t mean turning off our sense of ethics – it means slowing down our judgments long enough to listen. To understand. To ask: What does this mean here?
One dilemma I often face while traveling is the treatment of animals – especially dogs. For some (not all) areas in Asia, the dog is viewed the same way we view a rat. And we all know what we do if a rat came into our house, right. In many places, animals live hard lives, with little care or status. My instinct is to condemn it. And yet, I know that the way people relate to animals is deeply shaped by culture. They are not aware of it, it is just embodied and not reflexive. While I personally believe in kindness toward all living beings – and wish it were a universal value – I also have to confront the fact that I come from a culture that hunts whales, farms animals under questionable conditions, and swats bees without a second thought. In the west, there is enormous cruelty towards animals too. But we call it “food industry”, enjoy our burgers and shut up.
Whaling is condemned in many parts of the world, but from within those whaling communities where I am from, the criticism often seems hypocritical. I say this not to defend or accuse, but to illustrate: cultural relativism doesn’t offer easy answers. It offers space for nuance. For reflection. It forces us to ask not just why they do what they do – but also why we believe what we believe. That´s a very difficult, but very rewarding if you manage to expand your consciousness.
Takeaway and Summary: What Cultural Relativism Can Teach the Thoughtful Traveler
Cultural relativism isn’t about agreeing with everything we see. It’s about recognizing that people live by different logics, values, and histories – and that morality isn’t always universal in the way we assume it to be.
As travelers, this means resisting the urge to label other cultures as wrong, backward, or inferior simply because they don’t reflect our own norms. It means trading quick judgment for deeper curiosity.
But relativism doesn’t mean moral indifference. You can still believe in compassion, justice, and kindness toward all living beings. The difference is that you hold those beliefs with humility, knowing that others may see the world through different – and equally valid – lenses.
In practice, cultural relativism asks us to:
Observe before reacting
Ask questions before assuming
And reflect on our own cultural baggage, not just theirs
The result?
You don’t just see the world —
You understand it.
And in the process,
you might just understand yourself a little better too.