symbolic culture
Summary
Symbolic culture is the nonmaterial part of culture: the shared symbols, language, beliefs, values, and rituals through which a society gives meaning to its world. The most testable point is the contrast with material culture, the physical objects a society makes and uses.
Detail
Meaning: Symbolic culture, often called nonmaterial culture, is the set of shared ideas and symbols that carry meaning in a society. It includes language, gestures, values, beliefs, norms, rituals, and the meanings attached to images and objects. A symbol stands for something else, and its meaning is agreed on by a group and learned through socialization rather than built into the thing itself. Material culture is the physical objects and spaces a society creates, such as tools, buildings, and clothing.
On the MCAT: A passage describes a flag, a wedding ring, a religious ritual, or a hand gesture and asks you to classify it. The cloth of the flag is material culture; what it represents, such as national identity, is symbolic culture. Questions may also ask you to predict that a gesture or symbol is read differently in different cultures, or to connect language to thought through linguistic relativity (the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis).
Common confusion: Students treat the two types as separate piles of objects. Many objects have both aspects: a cross is a physical item (material), while its religious meaning is symbolic. Ask whether the question names the thing or the meaning it carries. Also, symbolic culture is not the same as symbolic interactionism, a theoretical perspective in which people act based on the meanings they give to symbols.
Sources
- Sociology: A Brief Introduction
- Essentials of Sociology
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.