Which term holds that one cannot truly understand and evaluate cultural, social, and psychological facts?

• A. Cultural Diversity
• B. Ethnocentrism
• C. Cultural Relativism
• D. Xenocentrism

Answer: (C)

Cultural Relativism holds that beliefs, values, and practices must be understood within the context of the culture they belong to, rather than measured against an external standard. This means there isn’t a single universal yardstick to evaluate all cultures; understanding comes from analyzing ideas as they appear in that culture’s own terms. Because of this, you can truly grasp cultural, social, and psychological facts by adopting the culture’s perspective rather than judging it from outside.

In contrast, other options don’t fit as well. Cultural diversity highlights variety among cultures but doesn’t prescribe how to understand them; xenocentrism favors foreign cultures, not the method of understanding; ethnocentrism evaluates other cultures using one’s own norms, which actually blocks fair understanding by imposing external criteria.