Should We Do as the Romans Do?

Analyzing how companies can think about this

Photo by Courtney Cook on Unsplash

The expression “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” suggests that when someone is in a foreign country he/she should abide by the customs of that country. This view would be supported by cultural relativists as it articulates the fundamental view of cultural relativism. According to cultural relativism, no culture is superior to another. Consequently, truth itself is relative and is dependent on the cultural context and the moral codes of a society, making every cultural belief valid. This view is especially favorable for companies doing business abroad because if they do not follow the local traditions they can forgo business opportunities to profit from.

However, this view is invalid and there are several reasons to be skeptical of this view. This view is invalid because just because people have different beliefs it does not logically follow that there is no truth about what actually is. For example, just because people believed that the world was flat did not make it true. This view also implies that we cannot claim that slavery or genocide is wrong because the test for right and wrong is what society happens to believe. Thus, slavery before the 20th century was right because people believed that it was right. This view also suggests that we cannot make sense of moral progress because what we are doing is always right.

Opposing cultural relativism is ethical absolutism, which states that regardless of the cultural environment there are absolute standards against which the morality of an action can be assessed. Absolutists would claim that when in Rome, one should not do as the Romans do. There are three principles that form the fundamentals of this view: there is a single list of truths, these truths can be described using the same vocabulary, and that there is a universal standard of behavior.

This view is problematic on several fronts. Firstly, by claiming that there is a single list of truths, absolutists insinuate that the moral code of one culture is superior to another. Secondly, it suggests that cultural traditions need to be disregarded. Lastly, it suggests that regardless of the context there is only one way someone can act. Businesses abiding by cultural absolutism can face several challenges and will likely…