AP Syllabus focus:
‘Geographers compare cultures using cultural relativism or ethnocentrism—two contrasting attitudes toward cultural difference.’
Understanding how people interpret cultural differences is essential for analyzing human behavior across places. This topic contrasts cultural relativism and ethnocentrism, two key perspectives shaping how cultures are compared and understood.
Cultural Relativism and Its Geographic Importance
Cultural relativism refers to evaluating a culture based on its own values, beliefs, and practices rather than judging it through the lens of another culture. Geographers use this perspective to understand cultural diversity without imposing external standards of what is “normal” or “correct.” It encourages a nuanced interpretation of human behavior and supports the idea that all cultural practices emerge from unique historical and environmental contexts.
Cultural Relativism: The practice of interpreting and understanding a culture according to its own internal logic, values, and norms.
Cultural relativism helps human geographers investigate how environmental conditions, resource availability, and historical experiences produce distinct cultural practices. Recognizing the internal coherence of cultural systems allows geographers to study societies more objectively and avoid imposing normative judgments.
Key Characteristics of Cultural Relativism
Contextual understanding: Behaviors are evaluated relative to the cultural environment in which they occur.
Reduction of bias: Analysts attempt to suspend personal or cultural assumptions.
Greater cultural insight: Emphasizes learning from cultural differences rather than critiquing them.
Supports fieldwork and ethnographic methods: Encourages immersion and observation to understand local meaning systems.
Geographic Applications of Cultural Relativism
Human geographers use cultural relativism to interpret:
Food traditions, especially those shaped by climate, agriculture, and local ecology.
Religious rituals rooted in historical and environmental influences.
Social norms, such as family structures or roles within the household.
Land-use practices, including sacred spaces, subsistence systems, or settlement patterns.
A culturally relativistic approach allows geographers to uncover why certain traits emerge in particular regions and how these traits make sense to the people who practice them.
Because many elements of culture are learned early and taken for granted, people often mistake their own norms for universal human behavior.
This cultural iceberg diagram shows how visible cultural behaviors rest upon deeper, unseen values and worldviews. It illustrates why judgments of other cultures often arise from underlying assumptions rather than surface traits. Some labels shown, such as “heroes” and “artefacts,” go beyond the AP specification but help clarify cultural structure. Source.
Ethnocentrism and Its Effects
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to evaluate or judge other cultures based on the standards and values of one’s own culture, often assuming that one’s own culture is superior or more “advanced.” This perspective can create misunderstandings, foster prejudice, and generate cultural conflict.
Ethnocentrism: The belief that one’s own culture represents the correct or superior way of life, leading to the judgment of other cultures against one’s own standards.
While ethnocentrism is a natural human psychological tendency, geographers view it as a barrier to understanding cultural diversity. It can distort interpretations of cultural landscapes and misrepresent the logic behind cultural practices.
Key Characteristics of Ethnocentrism
Judgment-based evaluation: Other cultures are measured against one’s own.
Assumption of superiority: One’s cultural norms are viewed as universal benchmarks.
Potential for conflict: Misunderstandings escalate when groups feel invalidated or disrespected.
Distorted geographic perception: Cultural traits may be labeled “backward” or “irrational” without understanding context.
Geographic Consequences of Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism influences spatial interactions, policy decisions, and cultural relationships. Impacts may include:
Cultural conflict, as differing cultural norms become sources of tension.
Misperception of landscapes, such as misinterpreting subsistence agriculture as inefficiency rather than adaptation.
Justification of colonial or imperial policies, historically rooted in judging other societies as inferior.
Negative stereotypes of cultural groups, shaping migration patterns or neighborhood interactions.
Ethnocentric attitudes can influence international relations, development strategies, and even tourism, as visitors may misinterpret cultural behavior through unfamiliar value systems.
Comparing Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism
Understanding the contrast between cultural relativism and ethnocentrism is essential for analyzing how cultures interact, how biases form, and how geographers interpret complex cultural systems.
Major Points of Contrast
Perspective
Cultural relativism prioritizes understanding.
Ethnocentrism prioritizes judgment.
Impact on geographic analysis
Cultural relativism supports objective study of landscapes and cultural patterns.
Ethnocentrism distorts analysis, often misrepresenting cultural logic.
Implications for interaction
Cultural relativism fosters cooperation and respect.
Ethnocentrism contributes to conflict and division.
Approach to diversity
Cultural relativism promotes openness to multiple cultural pathways.
Ethnocentrism promotes a single cultural standard.
Why This Distinction Matters in Human Geography
Geographers must evaluate cultural differences without bias to accurately interpret the spatial distribution of cultural traits. Recognizing the difference between understanding and judging allows for better analysis of:
Cultural landscapes and why they differ across regions.
Patterns of diffusion, as ideas may be accepted or rejected based on cultural attitudes.
Identity formation, shaped by internal and external cultural perspectives.
Intercultural relationships, influenced by perceptions of similarity or difference.
How Cultural Attitudes Shape Spatial Patterns
Attitudes toward cultural difference—whether relativistic or ethnocentric—affect how people perceive and use space. These attitudes influence:
Immigration and integration, including acceptance of ethnic enclaves.
Public policy, such as language laws or religious accommodation.
Social cohesion, strengthened by openness or weakened by exclusion.
Everyday interactions, determining whether cultural difference is treated as opportunity or threat.
Fieldwork, migration, tourism, and international study all create situations where people confront unfamiliar cultural norms and must decide whether to judge or try to understand them.
This photograph shows travelers entering an unfamiliar cultural environment, illustrating how individuals may react with ethnocentrism or cultural relativism. Such encounters reveal how cultural attitudes shape spatial behavior and interpretation. The source also connects this moment to culture shock, a concept related but not required by the AP specification. Source.
FAQ
Geographers often use reflexivity, a process in which they actively examine how their own cultural background shapes their interpretations. This helps reduce bias during observation.
They may also:
Collaborate with local researchers
Use multiple data sources to cross-check assumptions
Spend extended time in the community to understand local meaning systems
These strategies support more culturally relativistic interpretations of behaviour and landscapes.
Yes. While it promotes understanding, strict cultural relativism can make it difficult to critically assess practices that have environmental or social impacts.
For example, a geographer might struggle to evaluate land-use decisions that contribute to deforestation if they avoid any form of judgement. Balancing sensitivity with analytical responsibility is often necessary.
Ethnocentrism tends to increase when people face unfamiliar environments, feel threatened, or lack knowledge about other cultures.
Common triggers include:
Rapid exposure to unfamiliar customs
Strong national or cultural identity
Limited interaction with diverse groups
Media portrayals that reinforce stereotypes
These conditions heighten the likelihood of interpreting cultural differences negatively.
Cultural relativism encourages geographers to understand religious behaviours within the belief systems that give them meaning. Instead of judging unfamiliar rituals, they analyse how these practices relate to identity, place, and community organisation.
This approach helps reveal how religious landscapes reflect local worldviews rather than universal norms.
Ethnocentrism can reinforce social divisions by framing cultural differences as deficiencies rather than variations.
In multicultural societies, this may lead to:
Misunderstandings in public spaces
Conflict over language use, dress, or religious expression
Neighbourhood segregation
Resistance to culturally inclusive policies
These patterns shape how groups interact and how space is organised within diverse urban environments.
Practice Questions
(1–3 marks)
Explain the difference between cultural relativism and ethnocentrism in the context of human geography.
(1–3 marks)
1 mark for defining cultural relativism as understanding a culture based on its own values and norms.
1 mark for defining ethnocentrism as judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture.
1 mark for clearly explaining the contrast between the two (for example, one aims for understanding, the other for judgment or assumption of superiority).
(4–6 marks)
Using examples, analyse how ethnocentrism can influence the interpretation of cultural landscapes and the interactions between cultural groups.
(4–6 marks)
Award marks for any of the following, up to 6 marks:
1–2 marks for defining or describing ethnocentrism in a geographical context (judging other cultures using one’s own standards).
1–2 marks for explaining how this can distort the interpretation of cultural landscapes (for example, labelling subsistence agriculture as inefficient due to unfamiliar standards).
1–2 marks for providing relevant examples of how ethnocentrism affects interactions between cultural groups (for example, conflict arising from misinterpretation of cultural norms, stereotyping influencing migration attitudes, or policy decisions shaped by cultural bias).
1 additional mark may be awarded for a well-developed explanation that links ethnocentrism to wider spatial or social consequences, such as segregation, marginalisation, or misunderstanding of cultural practices.
