Cultural relativism is the principle of regarding the beliefs, values, and practices of a culture from the viewpoint of that culture itself. originating in the work of franz boas in the early 20th century, cultural relativism has greatly influenced social sciences such as anthropology. in sociology, the principle is sometimes practiced to avoid cultural bias in research, as well as to avoid judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture. for this reason, cultural relativism has been considered an attempt to avoid ethnocentrism. cultural relativism is related to but often distinguished from moral relativism, the view that morality is relative to a standard, especially a cultural standard.

Donald was arrested for murdering an acquaintance. at the trial, donald takes the stand and testifies that he and the victim knew each other. he admits that they would drink and use drugs together. one night while partying, donald explains in his testimony, an argument got out of hand during a card game. donald explains that the victim accused him of cheating and pulled out a knife on him and started swinging it in the air. donald said that he had no choice but to pull out his gun and shoot the victim. the jury convicted donald of manslaughter. who would argue that donald weighed the potential costs and benefits of shooting the victim and decided to pull the trigger as a result of free will? a. a rational choice theorist b. a critical criminologist c. a conflict theorist d. a positivist