The dependency thesis is the argument that the morality of a society is dependent on the aspirations, beliefs, history and environment of that society. A persons beliefs arise from their own personal circumstances. As time progresses the community, who have been equally influenced by their environment and history etc., develop common laws and practices that are generally accepted. Over time there can be radical shifts in perception and traditional norms are seen as wrong, an example of this is homosexuality, in 1533 under the rule of Henry VIII The Buggery Act was put in place making sodomy illegal, the punishment would be the death penalty. Capital punishment for sodomy was dissolved in 1861 however The Buggery Act was in place in England and Wales up until 1967. This is an excellent example of the dependency thesis, in 16th century England homosexuality was generally seen as an abhorrent crime, however today it is not, society has made a radical change and it is generally accepted. Although it is important to note that to this day sodomy is still a crime in 36% of the worlds countries, Iran for example, which is heavily influenced by Sharia Law, gives homosexuals the choice to face capital punishment or undergo sex reassignment surgery, however shocking this is to western ideology we cannot judge the morality of Iranian culture, as different cultures create differing moral laws, and we cannot be objective about another culture as we ourselves are products of our own culture. In Galeano’s ‘Open Veins of Latin America’ he speaks how Spanish explorers in the medieval centuries violated traditional Latin American customs, therefore believing that their moral laws are what are correct only. This is going against the dependency thesis.
Conventionalism is the belief that moral rules come around when needed, not on a set of pre written values, but on reactions to particular and often immediate circumstances. Conventionalism recognizes the importance of the social environment in generating moral customs and beliefs. For example different societies will have differing moral codes on technology, it is against the law to hack into certain websites and databases, because it was not existent and therefore not a problem in the past. As time goes on and problems have been recognized, then moral codes can be written. Pyramid relativism is catalyst to the principle that in all societies and cultures , the individuals grow fundamental principles that instruct their moral laws. The idea is that basic principles, at the top of the pyramid, precursor other moral norms, the decreasing levels of the pyramid,through deduction the principles are placed. Societies will all have differing fundamental moral laws and so no society’s pyramid is the same as another. For example someones fundamental principle may be intentionally hurting someone is wrong, from this they can establish moral norms such as, murder is wrong, theft is wrong and rape is wrong, the would make up the lower levels of the pyramid.
The other type of relativism is subjective relativism. This is the understanding that morality comes from the views and opinions on an individual, and not the customs of their society. If something is true to you then it is for you, one creates reality by their beliefs. Protagora’s relativism is subjective in this way, he says “is to me such as it appears to me, as it is to you such it appears to me”. New age author Shirley MacLaine can also be perceived as a subjective relativist, “Life doesn’t happen to us. We make it happen. Reality isn't separate from us. We are creating our reality every moment of the day. For me that truth is the ultimate freedom and the ultimate responsibility”. Morality is personal preference, like taste, as the adage goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is morality in the eye of the individual. For example you may feel compelled to help an elderly person trying to cross the road or you may feel no obligation what so ever. Both of these opinions are right according to the individual so no argument can be made as to which is the better one. Subjective relativism relies on the individual obeying there own personal moral codes that they have set forth for themselves, hypocrisy is a way of judging an individuals subjective relativist beliefs. The philosopher Richard Rorty said that it is possible for individuals to live in societies within societies, for example when you go to work you will have a close knit group of friends who you act differently with than you other colleagues. People have the ability to vary their moral norms depending on their ‘micro-society’. No set of moral values is necessarily better than the other, they are just different. As long as the individual is realizing that they are changing their morality as they go from micro-society to micro-society then they are not being hypocritical.
To conclude, moral relativism is a broad term used to describe a multitude of differing reasonings of morality. From cultural to subjective, relativism is the general belief that there is no fixed universal moral codes, unlike absolutism. Opinion, society and the individual cause an individual to have their own personal set of moral values, to which they make important decisions.