Final answer:
Cultural critics focus on how cultural works reflect societal norms, attitudes, and power dynamics, examining aspects from gender to political resistance and employing cultural relativism to contextualize their analyses.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cultural critics are primarily interested in examining and exploring the various ways in which a work of art or a cultural artifact interacts with and reflects the society in which it was created. They delve into aspects such as gender roles, race, education, and work, as these factors influence and are reflected in the creation and reception of cultural works. This sort of critique often involves questioning, critiquing, and connecting the work to broader cultural phenomena and power relations within society.
One key aspect of what cultural critics examine is how cultural products such as literature, film, art, sports, and music express cultural issues of the time or the cultural viewpoints of the author/creator in contrast to those of the audience. Through cultural analysis, critics aim to guide audiences in understanding the work within a larger cultural context, integrating the examination of socio-economic factors, long-term fieldwork findings, and the intersections with aspects such as religion, gender, and political resistance.
Cultural relativism sometimes challenges cultural critics when reconciling their own cultural perspective with those they are studying, especially when considering the historical context and ethical concerns. They must consider how historical attitudes and common cultural ideals of the period when the work was produced may differ from contemporary views, shaping the interpretation and analysis of the work.