Elements of Culture: Definitions, Aspects & Components

Vocabulary-style flashcards defining the four primary elements of culture: symbols, language, values, and norms, including specific cultural examples and subcategories like folkways and mores.

Culture

A combination of elements that, together, form a people's unique way of life, existing anywhere humans exist.

Symbol

Anything that is used to stand for something else, to which people who share a culture attach a specific meaning such as an object, gesture, sound, or image.

Cross

A significant symbol to Christians representing the basis of their entire religion and treated with great reverence.

Emoticons

Combinations of keyboard characters used in American culture to represent feelings online or through texting.

Scarab beetle

A symbol in Egyptian culture that represents the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

Language

A system of words and symbols used to communicate with other people, including full languages, body language, slang, and unique phrases.

American French fries vs. British chips

An example of how English slang and phrases differ between cultures despite speaking the same language fluently.

Eye contact in America

A form of body language suggesting that you are paying attention and are interested in what a person has to say.

Values

Culturally de!ned standards for what is good or desirable, used by members to decide what is good and what is bad.

Individualistic

A value system, common in America, that encourages competition and emphasizes personal achievement.

Collectivistic

A value system where collaboration is encouraged, and a person's success is measured by their contributions to the group.

Norms

Culturally de!ned expectations of behavior that serve as guidelines for how to behave in situations and identify inappropriate behavior.

Folkways

Norms that dictate appropriate behavior for routine or casual interaction, such as holding a door open or not picking one's nose in public.

Mores

Norms that dictate morally right or wrong behavior; these rules are so important they often go without saying and usually don't get written down.

Taboo

Serious mores where people who violate them are considered un!t for society and are severely punished or ostracized.

Cannibalism

An example of a violated norm in the United States that results in severe punishment and social ostracization even without formal laws.