Final answer:
Cultural relativism is the idea that there are different ways to interpret events, leading to different behaviors. There are three major theoretical perspectives in sociology that can help explain cultural interpretations: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. These perspectives provide different lenses to study and understand society.
Step-by-step explanation:
Cultural relativism describes the simple fact that there are different cultures and each has different ways of behaving, thinking and feeling as its members learn such from the previous generation. There is an enormous amount of evidence to confirm this claim. It is well known by just about every human on the planet that people do things differently around the globe. People dress differently, eat differently, speak different languages, sing different songs, have different music and dances and have many different customs.
There are three major theoretical approaches toward the interpretation of cul-ture. A functionalist perspective acknowledges that there are many parts of cul-ture that work together as a system to fulfill society's needs. Functionalists view culture as a reflection of society's values. Conflict theorists see culture as inher-ently unequal, based upon factors like gender, class, race, and age. An interac-tionist is primarily interested in culture as experienced in the daily interactions between individuals and the symbols that comprise a culture. Various cultural and sociological occurrences can be explained by these theories; however, there is no one "right" view through which to understand culture.
Modern-day sociologists often apply one of three major theoretical perspectives. These views offer different lenses through which to study and understand society: functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and conflict theory. Let's explore how scholars applying these paradigms understand religion.