Cultural relativism, as defined by Ruth Benedict in her article A Defense of Cultural Relativism, is the theory that human morality is based on the society in which an individual is a part of. The basis of a society's morality comes from cultural traditions, habits, and what the majority believes to be right and wrong. Benedict uses her anthropological studies to support her ideas concerning cultural relativism. The theory of cultural relativism is criticized and questioned by many; and it is considered one of the weakest arguments pertaining to the basis of morality. Some of these criticisms come from William Shaw in his paper Relativism in Ethics. In his paper, Shaw sets out to prove that Cultural Relativism is not a strong enough theory on which to base the existence of human morality. In this paper I will discuss the ideas of cultural relativism and the problems with them. Whether cultural relativism is a viable basis for morality or not, society must play some roll in determining the way people act and perceive right and wrong.
             Cultural relativism as an explanation for the morals of human beings is a logical and convincing idea. According to the theory, people base their individual thoughts, actions and beliefs on the morals of the society in which they are a part. The individual builds their own morality around what society believes is good, bad, right or wrong. Society sets its own morals by choosing a direction in one way or another on a certain belief. This belief is then incorporated into society and becomes the norm. Anything not considered to be moral is tossed aside and considered to be abnormal. This is what the theory of cultural relativism is based on. It is an explanation of why different societies have different ideas concerning morals.
             According to Ruth Benedict, the normality of a society is defined by its culture as what is good and abnormality as what is bad. This in turn defines what is socially acceptab...