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70 Examples of Symbolic Culture

John Spacey, updated on February 29, 2024

Symbolic culture are intangible elements of culture that exist as shared meaning and practices. These are all based on collective belief but are nonetheless very real things that have much influence over societies, organizations, institutions and individual behaviors. For example, family is an intangible idea based on collective belief. Nonetheless, families are a near universal feature of human societies that hold most economic, political and social power on a global basis. The following are common examples of symbolic culture.

Aesthetics	Archetypes
Artistic Styles	Attitudes
Beauty	Beliefs
Body Language	Brands
Celebrations	Celebrities
Ceremonies	Color Meanings
Communication Styles	Cooking Methods
Crafts	Culinary Traditions
Customs	Dance
Dating Customs	Design Practices
Dining Rituals	Etiquette
Family	Fashion
Festivals	Film
Folklore	Funeral Practices
Gestures	Hairstyles
Heroes	Humor
Ideologies	Language
Legends	Literature
Marriage	Media
Money	Morals
Music	Myths
Norms	Performing Arts
Philosophies	Religious Beliefs
Rites of Passage	Roles
Saving Face	Sensibilities
Social Beliefs	Social Constructs
Social Expectations	Social Hierarchies
Social Identities	Social Roles
Social Status	Sports
Status Symbols	Stereotypes
Storytelling	Superstitions
Table Manners	Taboos
Theater	Traditions
Truisms	Values
Visual Icons	Visual Symbolism

Symbolic Culture vs Material Culture

Symbolic culture is entirely intangible and exists by virtue of being an established view or practice within a culture. Material culture are physical manifestations of culture. In most cases, symbolic culture shapes material culture and is the dominant or driving force behind a culture. For example, money is a type of symbolic culture that is based on the belief that a precious metal has value or trust in a government that issues a currency. This has corresponding elements of material culture such as a paper currency or gold coin.

Overview

Symbolic culture are intangible elements of culture that exist as common belief and practices. This is based on language and visual symbols such as colors, icons and faces. For example, freedom is an element of symbolic culture that exists as a word in language, as a concept and as a value and belief. You could argue that freedom is socially constructed or that it is something universal that humans didn't invent but understood.