I guess I have always hated the “all is relative” argument because it completely disregards the existence of a universal humanity. In Tomlinson’s article, however, the idea of cultural relativism surfaces. By examining Katz and Liebes’ experiment with the audience of Dallas, Tomlinson addresses some important concerns about cultural relativism vs. imperialist absolutism. Katz and Liebes brought a group of people together from similar socio-economic backgrounds. These groups, however, differed in their religious and ethnic backgrounds. The idea of this experiment was to have these groups of people talk about the show together. What Katz and Leibes found, was that each group brought forward different readings of the show according to its own experiences. Each person brought his/her own cultural perspective when viewing the television show. Although Dallas is a strong example of capitalism and American cultural imperialism, the personal cultural histories of each person trumped the American influence. These findings make it very apparent how difficult it is to reconcile cultural differences especially when it comes to value systems. Although I maintain my argument about the existence of universals, Katz and Liebes’ findings make it clear that although globalization occurs today on an unprecedented scale, no exposure to outside cultures can truly erase one’s own cultural identity.
