Quick answer: Culture includes the learned meanings, practices, values, symbols, language, and expectations that people share and pass on. It can be visible in food, art, rituals, and language, but it also includes less visible assumptions about time, relationships, work, and belonging.
Culture is not a checklist of stereotypes. People participate in many cultures at once—family, local, professional, religious, online, regional, national, and more—and individuals within a group do not all think or act the same way.
What is considered culture?
In sociology, culture often refers to the shared beliefs, values, norms, language, symbols, and material objects that shape social life. OpenStax’s discussion of the elements of culture is a useful introduction because it separates components such as symbols, language, values, beliefs, norms, and material culture.
Original diagram: visible cultural expressions often rest on less visible meanings and shared expectations.
Examples of culture in everyday life
Culture, subculture, and social change
Culture changes through migration, technology, contact between groups, political events, creativity, and generational change. A subculture is a group that shares patterns or meanings that distinguish it from a wider culture, while still participating in the broader social world. Change is not automatically loss; it can create new forms of connection as well as new tensions.
Culture also shapes how people experience stress, seek support, and interpret emotions — making cultural psychology and cultural neuroscience essential for understanding mental health across communities. Research shows that cultural context influences everything from the expression of anxiety to the stigma around seeking therapy, reinforcing why culturally informed care matters in global mental health, cross-cultural counseling, and community psychology.
How to think about culture without stereotyping
- Describe a practice or context, not an entire population.
- Recognize variation within every group.
- Ask who is speaking and whose perspective is missing.
- Separate observation from judgment.
- Remember that cultural explanations do not erase power, history, or individual choice.
For related concepts, see mores in sociology and place identity theory.
Sources and further reading
Updated August 2026. Educational content; not a complete account of any culture or community.