Cultural Relativism as a Methodological Approach Within the American Anthropological Tradition of Studying Culture (the Late 19th Century – the 1970s)

The purpose of the article is to study cultural relativism as a methodological approach on the examples of the work of the main representatives of the American school of historical ethnology (F. Boas, R. Benedict, M. Mead, M. Herskovits), to reveal its heuristic potential within the anthropological paradigm of studying culture. The research methodology involves the use of the systematic approach, synthesis of logical and historical approaches, and the diachronic method. The semantic connections within cultural relativism are revealed with the help of the systematic approach. The synthesis of logical and historical allowed us to recreate the internal change of accents and angles within the framework of cultural relativism. The diachronic method is used to identify specific features of certain methodological aspects and angles of cultural relativism and ways of their further transformation. Scientific novelty. For the first time in the framework of modern Ukrainian cultural studies, the article considers the contribution of the recognised representatives of the American school of historical ethnology to the development of relativistic methodology, which influenced the humanitarian discourse of the second half of the 20th century and continues to be actively used in the latest globalisation, cross-cultural and postcolonial projects. Conclusions. It is revealed that cultural relativism, as a methodology for analysing cultural phenomena and processes, is justified and conceptualised in the context of the American cultural paradigm by the efforts of the representatives of the school of historical ethnology. It is proved that despite the pluralism of approaches and some theoretical differences, cultural relativism still has common features: a criticism of evolutionism and “ethnocentrism”; an apology of the equality of cultures of different peoples and the pluralism of the historical and cultural process; a view of culture as a plastic and dynamic formation, organically functioning unity as the basis of a unique “local history”; the formation and consistent use of their own tools, terminology in connection with the development of field research techniques. It should be noted that cultural relativism is characterised by an immanent evolution of positions — from diffusionism and anthropogeographic eclecticism through ethnopsychology to “ethnosophy” and differentiation (philosophical, methodological, and practical value relativism).