Cultural Relativism: Drawbacks and Defenses Thesis

And in fact, a study of the textual scriptures will actually reveal a number of ways in which the Quran had come to break new ground in the establishment of social protection for women within the context of said family roles. The evidence to defend this perspective is couched in a cultural and textual understanding alien to most Western critics of the lifestyle. Abu-Lughod determines to "argue that rather than seeking to "save" others (with the superiority it implies and the violences it would entail) we might better think in terms of (1) working with them in situations that we recognize as always subject to historical transformation and (2) considering our own larger responsibilities to address the forms of global injustice that are powerful shapers of the worlds in which they find themselves." (Abu-Lughod, 783) This is a statement to the defense of cultural relativism which is designed to suggest that the theory is not itself incorrect but that its falsehood derives from a failure of the global community to promote true and meaningful provisions for the protections of human rights.Indeed, there is a basis to this perception that ties into the discussion on globalization, suggesting that the absence of an effective balance in the area moral interaction between states helps to permit the broad and dangerous definition of cultural relativism current and popularly in play.

Works Cited

Abu-Lughod, L. (2004). Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and its Others. American Anthropologist, 104(3), 783-790.

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IMF Staff. (April 12, 2000). Globalization: Threat or Opportunity? InternationalMonetary Fund. Online at http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/041200.htm

Tilley, J.J. (2000).….....