Cultural practices of different peoples largely characterize the development and formation of specific ethnic groups. Traditions and habits that people of the same cultural group adhere to speak of unique values, beliefs, and interests that have become generally accepted in the given community. This applies to religious, political, social, and other aspects since cultural norms affect all aspects of life without exception and often determine the nature of relationships among people. One of the factors that reflect specific cultural preferences and beliefs is the attitude toward the institution of marriage. Representatives of different nationalities promote individual traditions regarding marriage, including the procedure itself and the accompanying rules to follow.
In most modern cultures, autonomous marriage is practiced when people choose their spouses by themselves. Nevertheless, in some social groups, arranged marriages are the norm when spouses are chosen by third parties, such as family members. While taking into account democratic values ​​and human rights as integral components of a civilized society, advocates of autonomous marriage often oppose arranged marriages. Such unions, in their opinion, allegedly indicate the absence of a person’s right to decide individual destiny and choose a life partner independently. At the same time, given the distinctive ways in which cultural norms are formed, denying ethnocentrism is a reasonable approach to avoid bias. The concept of cultural relativism, considered in this context, is the recognition of unique value systems in different cultures. Appiah (2006) describes his position as follows: “You can be genuinely engaged with the ways of other societies without approving, letting alone adopting them” (p. 8). This means that condemnation is not reasoned if the person has grown up in a distinctive cultural environment, and acceptance of other people’s norms is not mandatory, which, nonetheless, does not give the right to censure.
By following the concept of cultural relativism, regardless of belonging to a particular cultural group, condemnation or bias towards other cultural groups is unacceptable. Dauvergne (2019) analyzes the idea of ​​arranged marriage and notes that, although this practice may be confusing to some people, this does not mean that the adherents of such a social tradition are less developed. This may indicate the distinctive ways of establishing the institution of marriage, and what is unacceptable for one person may be rational and objective for others. When taking into account the principles of cultural relativism, a person can make adequate arguments about the inadmissibility of bias towards the cultural customs of others based on personal experience and value judgments. Accordingly, this is possible to convince the other side, but to achieve this, one should use such concepts as individual rights and distinctive values.
Cultural relativism cannot be considered an approach that allows absolutely any form of development, regardless of universal human values. In his book, Appiah (2006), although supporting this concept, says that this is not a common practice to promote and can sometimes be a means of manipulating opinions. According to him, “if we cannot learn from one another what it is right to think and feel and do, then conversation between us will be pointless” (Appiah, 2006, p. 31). This means that sometimes, in an attempt to defend an individual position against the advice and recommendations of others, a person or even an entire culture may follow an incorrect path of development. Nevertheless, regarding the issue of arranged or autonomous marriages, the concept of cultural relativism is an adequate tool. This theory conveys the idea of differences in the perception of the institution of marriage and the characteristic customs of different cultures.
When analyzing the approaches to handling moral disagreements about cultural practices, one can note that cultural relativism is the most neutral ethical concept. For instance, while comparing it with moral relativism, the latter is associated primarily with personal values ​​and, as Wreen (2018) notes, emphasizes one person’s truth. Cultural relativism is a more objective form of assessment of global ethical concepts because a whole cultural layer is taken into account, not only individual judgments. Consequently, when adopting this approach to assessing the institution of marriage, one can state that the traditions that people have adhered to in their communities for many years may be incomprehensible to others. However, this does not mean that inconsistencies in views are grounds for condemnation, and cultural practices may be more than ingrained archaic customs.
Given the aforementioned reasons, this is possible to convince people that pre-arranged marriages can be admitted as culturally permissible, and the concept of cultural relativism is an objective tool. Equal rights presuppose freedom in the choice of traditions and values, and if the wishes of the parties to marry are allowed by the agreement of third parties, the obstacle to this is interference with the cultural norms of another community. The idea of ​​cultural relativism reflects a more objective assessment in contrast to moral relativism, which concerns, first of all, personal rather than general values. As a result, arranged marriages cannot be condemned if two people are willing to do this consciously, knowing about the values of their culture.
References
Appiah, K. A. (2006). Cosmopolitanism. W. W. Norton & Company, 2006.
Dauvergne, C. (2019). Gendering Islamophobia to better understand immigration laws. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46(12), 2569-2584. Web.
Wreen, M. (2018). What is moral relativism? Philosophy, 93(3), 337-354. Web.