Culture - MCAT Behavioral Sciences

Culture

5 min read Updated Apr 19, 2026

Culture is the sum of a group’s learned behaviors, beliefs, language, symbols, and material objects. Everything that is passed from one generation to the next through learning rather than genetics is culture.

Material and Symbolic Culture

Material culture. The physical objects a culture produces - tools, buildings, art, clothing, technology.
Symbolic (non-material) culture. The ideas, beliefs, values, norms, and language - the immaterial aspects of culture.

The two are linked. Material culture reflects and reinforces symbolic culture (a cathedral expresses religious beliefs; smartphones reflect values of connectivity and individualism).

Components of Symbolic Culture

Values. Abstract standards about what is good, desirable, or important. Freedom, equality, hard work, family.
Beliefs. Ideas about what is true. Religious doctrines, scientific facts, conspiracy theories.
Norms. Expectations for behavior. Covered in Chapter 9.
Symbols. Anything (word, object, gesture, image) that carries a particular meaning. Flags, religious symbols, hand gestures.
Language. The primary symbolic system of any culture. Shapes and is shaped by culture (see linguistic relativity, Chapter 4).

Black-and-white grid of twelve religious symbols arranged in a 4-by-4 layout: a Bahá'í nine-pointed star, the Buddhist dharma wheel, a Christian cross, a Chinese 'shou' character, the Hindu Om, the Islamic crescent and star, the Jain hand with wheel, the Jewish Star of David, the Wiccan pentagram, the Shinto torii, the Sikh khanda, and the Taoist yin-yang — Religious symbols are a textbook component of symbolic (non-material) culture: arbitrary visual marks that carry deep, shared meaning within a community. The same shape that means everything to one group means nothing to another - a defining feature of symbolic culture. *Credit: Sowlos via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).*

Subculture and Counterculture

Subculture. A group within a society that has its own distinct norms, values, and behaviors while still sharing much of the broader culture. Medical students, bikers, goth culture, gaming communities, religious groups.
Counterculture. A subculture that actively rejects and opposes the dominant culture’s values. 1960s hippies, militant separatist groups.

Medical training essentially immerses students in a specialized subculture with its own language, rituals, and values.

Color photograph from 1968 of a large crowd at an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in Vancouver, BC; protestors raise hand-lettered signs reading 'END ALL CAPITALIST WAR — JOIN THE YOUNG SOCIALISTS' and 'END CANADIAN COMPLICITY' against a backdrop of mid-century office buildings — An anti-Vietnam War demonstration in Vancouver, 1968 - an emblem of the late-1960s counterculture. Countercultures explicitly oppose dominant cultural values (here: war, capitalism, and the political establishment), distinguishing them from subcultures, which differ but do not actively contest. *Credit: John Hill via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).*

Cultural Relativism and Ethnocentrism (Revisited)

Already introduced in Chapter 9. Worth a quick reminder:

Cultural relativism - evaluating practices within their own cultural context rather than by outside standards. Good anthropological stance.
Ethnocentrism - judging others by one’s own standards, typically negatively. Human tendency; can distort cross-cultural interactions.

Cultural Lag

Cultural lag (Ogburn): material culture often changes faster than non-material culture. Technology races ahead; norms, laws, and beliefs struggle to catch up.

Examples:

Internet technology existed for 20+ years before meaningful norms about online privacy, misinformation, and digital platforms emerged.
Medical technology that enables life-extending treatments outpaces ethical and legal frameworks for end-of-life decisions.
Social media platforms create new possibilities (and harms) that laws haven’t yet addressed.

Cultural Shock

Cultural shock is the disorientation people experience when encountering a culture very different from their own. Common phases: honeymoon (excited by novelty), frustration (irritation at differences), adjustment (understanding increases), mastery/acceptance (comfortable functioning in new culture).

Medical students entering clinical rotations often experience a form of cultural shock as they move from classroom to hospital norms.

Cultural Diffusion

Diffusion is the spread of cultural elements (ideas, practices, objects) from one culture to another. Has accelerated dramatically with globalization and mass communication. Examples: spread of K-pop and anime worldwide, adoption of smartphones and social media across cultures, dietary changes following McDonald’s and Starbucks.

Diffusion can preserve or erode local cultures, depending on whether adopted elements replace or coexist with local practices.

Mass Media and Cultural Change

Mass media (TV, film, social media, internet) massively accelerates cultural change. Effects:

Homogenization. Similar content reaches billions, potentially flattening cultural differences.
Fragmentation. Niche audiences develop around specific content, creating diverse subcultures.
Amplification. Certain voices and ideas get outsized reach.
Misinformation. False information can spread faster than corrections.

Sociologists debate whether mass media strengthens or weakens cultural diversity - the evidence points to both simultaneously at different levels.

Color candid photograph of four pedestrians on an outdoor walkway, three of them looking down at smartphones or holding them to their ears, the fourth talking on a mobile phone — Smartphones have become the dominant interface for mass media, putting near-instant access to global content (and global misinformation) in nearly every pocket. Sociologists debate whether this homogenizes culture or fragments it into algorithmically curated niche audiences - both seem to be true at once. *Credit: Rawpixel Ltd via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).*

Evolution and Human Culture

Culture is often thought of as distinct from biology, but biologists and anthropologists argue that culture itself is an evolutionary adaptation. Human ability to accumulate knowledge across generations - teaching, learning, language - is arguably the key feature that enables human dominance over other species. We inherit not just genes but a cultural repertoire.

Dual inheritance theory: humans evolve through BOTH genetic and cultural inheritance, which sometimes interact (lactase persistence evolved in populations with dairying cultures; alcohol metabolism differs between populations with and without historical alcohol use).

Distinguish material from symbolic culture.

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Material culture: physical objects (tools, buildings, clothing). Symbolic (non-material) culture: ideas, beliefs, values, norms, language. Linked but distinct - material culture reflects and reinforces symbolic culture.

What is cultural lag, and who coined the term?

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Cultural lag (William F. Ogburn): material culture (technology) changes faster than non-material culture (norms, laws, beliefs). Social systems struggle to catch up to new technologies. Example: internet outpacing privacy norms and laws.

Distinguish a subculture from a counterculture.

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Subculture: distinct within broader culture but not opposed to it (medical students, gamers, biker clubs). Counterculture: actively rejects and opposes the dominant culture's values (1960s hippies, militant separatists). Countercultures are a subset of subcultures.