Semiotics Semiotics Glossary C         Cultural relativism / relativity [Chandler]    Cultural relativism is the view that each culture has its own worldview and that none of these can be regarded as more or less privileged or `authentic' in its representation of `reality' than another. Cultural worldviews are historically-situated social constructions. Cultural relativists tend also to be linguistic relativists, arguing that dominant cultural worldviews are reflected in ontologies which are built into the language of that culture. Cultural relativism is a fundamental assumption involved in Whorfianism. Anthropologists and others who study signifying practices within a culture can be seen as cultural relativists insofar as they seek to understand each culture in its own terms. However, as with epistemological relativism (with which it is closely associated), the label is often used as a criticism, being equated with extreme idealism or nihilism.