Human Rights: Universalists vs. Cultural Relativists after reading chapter 13, what is your view—are you more of a cultural relativist or universalist on the issue of whether psychotherapy, developed in a Western European context..

Short Paper #4: Human Rights: Universalists vs. Cultural
Relativists

Can
and should human rights be universal? Whose universe? This line of questioning
is behind many human rights controversies. Broadly, there are two positions:

1. “Universalists”
   believe that the same human rights should apply to everyone, regardless of
   their culture or background.
2. “Cultural
   relativists” believe human rights should take account of cultural
   differences.

Cultural
relativism states that values are defined by local culture as opposed to global
ideology. For example, cultural relativists argue that Western countries
developed human rights based on Western morality. Therefore, they should not be
imposed on non-Western societies with different histories, cultures, and levels
of development. Cultural relativism is the view that moral or ethical systems,
which vary from culture to culture, are all equally valid, and no one system is
really “better” than any other. This is based on the idea that there is no
ultimate standard of good or evil, so every
judgment about right and wrong is a product
of society. Therefore, any opinion on morality or ethics is subject to the
cultural perspective of each person. Ultimately, this means that no moral or
ethical system can be considered the “best” or “worst,” and no particular moral
or ethical position can be considered “right” or “wrong.”

Universalists
argue that ideals like liberty and security belong to all of us. They are
critical of cultural relativist arguments, which they see as an attempt to
justify the oppression of minorities or defend harmful cultural practices.
Cultural relativism has been criticized as a means for nations to pick and
choose which rights they are willing to uphold. So, there is a tension between
human rights as entirely universal and not subject to modifications due to
culture, on the one hand, versus human rights as affected by the cultural
demands of specific contexts, on the other.

This
tension (perhaps “collision”) between the idea of “universal human rights” as
objective truth and the cultural relativism of diverse communities throughout
the world brings up all sorts of complicated arguments about imperialism and colonialism, objective versus subjective truths, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia.

1. Read Human Rights: Universalism vs.
   Cultural Relativism—A Brief Thought.
2. Watch Universalism vs. Relativism: Human Rights.
3. Take the Worldview Questionnaire.
   At the end of the questionnaire, the Institute for Cultural Evolution will
   ask for your name and email address. Once you complete that information,
   they will send you your confidential results.

In a
500-word paper using APA-style in-text citations,
after reading chapter 13, what is
your view—are you more of a cultural relativist or universalist on the issue of
whether psychotherapy, developed in a Western European context, can be exported
successfully to other diverse cultures? Ask at least one other student what
their view is and discuss.?

REQUIREMENTS
FOR SHORT PAPERS

1. ALL short
   papers must meet the 500-word requirement.
2. ALL short
   papers follow the APA writing style, particularly:
3. Headings.
4. Parenthetical and Narrative
   In-Text Citations.
5. References.
6. Check for
   plagiarism using Quetext.
7. Use Citefast to create your references
   list but double-check that your referenced sources are correctly formatted

CONCLUSIONIn
this chapter, we have discussed the important role culture plays in attempting
to help people with mental disorders improve their lives. The material in this
chapter is not only relevant on its own, but is informed by material in the
entire book, showing the pervasive influence of culture on all aspects of our
psychological composition. It is only within this larger perspective of the
influence of culture that we can begin to truly grasp and appreciate the
difficulties and complexities of diagnosing and treating psychological
disorders in a diverse world.

The
difficulties presented, however, should be viewed as challenges, not obstacles.
Through the study of culture, psychopathology, assessment, and psychotherapy,
we are afforded the chance to expand our theoretical and conceptual horizons
regarding abnor-mality and treatment, and to help our treatment systems evolve
into bigger and better systems effectively serving larger and larger groups of
people. We are currently engaged in the search for principles and knowledge
that will help us achieve those goals.Continued cross-cultural research on
clinical issues—such as defining and assess-ing abnormality and designing
treatment approaches that effectively mobilize heal-ing forces within
clients—is a must. But research on these major issues of definition,
assessment, and treatment should proceed cautiously and systematically. Future
research will need to explore the efficacy of different treatment approaches
that address both etic and emic concerns, blending traditional and
culture-specific meth-ods in an overall, comprehensive fashion.