subculture

Meaning: A subculture is a smaller group within a larger society whose members share distinctive values, norms, symbols, or practices, often organized around an interest, age, ethnicity, occupation, or lifestyle. Members usually also take part in the dominant culture, so they hold both sets of norms. Examples include hip-hop communities, gamers, and surfers. Subcultures show cultural diversity inside one society and give members identity and belonging.

On the MCAT: A passage describes a group with its own slang, dress, or rituals, and you classify it as a subculture, a counterculture, or the dominant culture. It may also connect to in-group and out-group identity, or to deviance when the group's norms differ from the mainstream. In a multicultural (pluralist) society subcultures tend to stay distinct, while assimilation tends to blur them.

Common confusion: Subculture is not the same as counterculture. A counterculture is defined by active opposition to mainstream values, while a subculture simply differs and often coexists with the mainstream. A subculture is also not automatically deviant, and "sub" means within the larger culture, not inferior to it.