Relativity

The term relativity refers to the absence of any standards for absolute and universal application. In science, particularly physics, relativity can refer to a relationship between time, space, and matter. In sociology, relativity can refer to the different ways in which different cultures or individuals accomplish the the same things and comparing/contrasting different customs such as marriage, child-rearing, or food preparation.

For example, the average food preparation for a college student is relatively simple when compared to the recipes made by a high end chef. In the social sciences there are three identified areas of relativity: linguistic, moral, and cultural. All three of these factors deal with identifying and quantifying differences without passing judgement on those differences.

For instance, depending on climate some cultures wear heavy clothing while cultures from warm climates wear little in the way of clothing. In the past, heavily-clothed Europeans traditionally equated clothing with morality thus pejoratively accusing the lightly-dressed indigenous peoples of the countries they colonized as being immoral. However, as morality is a relative concept, this is an example of negatively judging another culture on the basis of something as superficial as clothing styles.