Culture

How it is used

In sociology, culture means a whole way of life, not only art, music or literature. You will often see material and non-material culture, popular culture, consumer culture and youth culture. It is countable when you compare groups: 'different cultures'.

Example sentences

1. Language is one of the main ways culture is passed on to children.

2. The seminar compared consumer culture in Istanbul and Berlin.

Common collocations

• popular culture
• material culture
• consumer culture
• dominant culture
• transmit culture

Related terms

• societyA large group of people who live in a shared territory, interact with one another and share institutions, rules and, to some degree, a common culture.
• valuesWidely shared beliefs about what is good, right, important or desirable in a society, which guide people's choices and the norms they follow.
• normA written or unwritten rule about how people are expected to behave in a particular situation, supported by approval when it is followed and by sanctions when it is broken.
• subcultureA group within a larger society whose members share some distinctive values, norms, styles or activities while still taking part in the wider culture.
• cultural relativismThe principle that a culture's beliefs and practices should be understood in their own context rather than judged by the standards of another culture.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• culture · Biology

More terms: Society and Culture

• socialisation
• identity
• ethnocentrism