5(a) Adaptive primate radiation
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.5 Characteristics of Primates > Evolutionary trend and primate taxonomy
Cultural Relativism — 2019 Paper I
Question · 2019 · Paper I · 10 Marks
Cultural Relativism
Model Answer
VAID ICSApproach
- Demand of Question: Explain cultural relativism as a foundational anthropological principle and indicate its significance.
- Structuring the Response: Define it through Boas and Herskovits, contrast it with ethnocentrism, and briefly discuss its limitations.
- Key Dimensions to Cover: Franz Boas, Herskovits, historical particularism, ethnocentrism, emic perspective and critical relativism.
Model Answer
Introduction: Cultural relativism is the principle that beliefs and practices should be understood within their own cultural context rather than judged exclusively by the standards of another culture.
Boasian foundation: Franz Boas challenged nineteenth-century evolutionary rankings and argued that each culture develops through its own particular historical circumstances.
Thus:
Cultural practice → Cultural context → Indigenous meaning
Against ethnocentrism: Cultural relativism rejects the assumption that one society’s values constitute a universal standard for judging all others. It encourages anthropologists to understand:
- local beliefs;
- values;
- institutions;
- ecological conditions;
- historical experiences.
Melville Herskovits strongly emphasized that cultural values acquire meaning within the society in which they operate.
Anthropological importance: It contributed to:
- reduction of ethnocentric bias;
- respect for cultural diversity;
- attention to emic perspectives;
- more context-sensitive ethnography.
Limitation: Absolute relativism may make criticism of coercion, violence or severe inequality difficult. Contemporary anthropology therefore often adopts critical cultural relativism—understanding a practice culturally without abandoning concerns of dignity and rights.
Conclusion: Cultural relativism remains fundamental because it replaces ethnocentric judgement with contextual and comparative understanding.
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UPSC Anthropology Optional 2019 — Paper I
28 questionsSyllabus: Paper I > 5. Religion > Anthropological approaches to the study of religion
5(d) Anthropological inputs in facial reconstruction
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 12. Applications of Anthropology > Forensic Anthropology > Reconstruction
Syllabus: Paper I > 12. Applications of Anthropology > Applied human genetics
Syllabus: Paper I > 2.2 The Nature of Society > Social stratification
Syllabus: Paper I > 11.3 Biological and socio-ecological factors influencing fecundity and fertility
Syllabus: Paper I > 9.7 Concepts and methods of Ecological Anthropology > High altitude adaptation
1(d) Cultural Materialism
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 6. Anthropological Theories > Cultural Materialism
1(b) Cultural Relativism
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 2.1 The Nature of Culture > Ethnocentrism vis-a-vis Cultural Relativism
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.5 Characteristics of Primates > Skeletal changes due to erect posture
5(e) Genetico-environmental factors affecting human growth
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 10. Human growth and development > Factors affecting growth and development
5(b) Implications of mutation in evolution
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.7 The biological basis of life > Mutation
Syllabus: Paper I > 3. Economic Organization > Impact of globalization on indigenous economies
Syllabus: Paper I > 9.5 Race and racism > Racial criteria and biological basis of racial classification
Syllabus: Paper I > 7. Culture, language and communication > Language and culture
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.8(b) Cultural Evolution: broad outlines of prehistoric cultures > Megalithic
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.8(b) Cultural Evolution: broad outlines of prehistoric cultures > Mesolithic
Syllabus: Paper I > 10. Human growth and development > Methodologies for growth studies
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.6 Phylogenetic status, characteristics and distribution > Neanderthal Man
5(c) Olduvai Gorge
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.6 Phylogenetic status, characteristics and distribution > East African hominid sites
Syllabus: Paper I > 8.3 Research Methods: Tools of data collection > Observation
1(c) Pastoralism in India
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 3. Economic Organization > Modes of subsistence > Pastoralism
Syllabus: Paper I > 8.2 Research Methods > Distinction between technique, method and methodology
Syllabus: Paper I > 2.5 Kinship > Descent theory and alliance theory
1(e) Relative Dating Methods
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.8(a) Chronology: relative and absolute dating methods
Syllabus: Paper I > 9.3 Concept of genetic polymorphism and selection
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.8(b) Cultural Evolution: broad outlines of prehistoric cultures > Upper Palaeolithic
6(a) Examine critically the contributions of Victor Turner and Clifford Geertz in anthropology.
20 Marks
Syllabus: Paper I > 6. Anthropological Theories > Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology